The drama made the front page of the Lebanese press, but also of several pan-Arab newspapers. At least seven migrants perished on the night of Saturday April 23 to Sunday April 24, according to a final provisional report, after the sinking of a boat with around 80 people on board off a town not far from Tripoli, the great Sunni city in northern Lebanon particularly affected by the economic crisis that is hitting the country. About forty people were rescued by the Lebanese army, which is continuing its search.
According to the Lebanese daily An-Nahar, this “death crossing” had to take these stowaways “to the Italian coast”.
“Lebanese power is throwing Tripoli into the sea”, scathing title of the site Daraj, which makes the political class assume responsibility for the tragedy.
“The voices of the survivors of the Tripoli death boat, which sank or was sunk off the port of Lebanon’s northern capital, came through loud and clear: ‘We flee from your grim faces, and we will try again when the opportunity arises.’”
“Victims” of total indifference
In the hours following the tragedy, the circumstances of which remain unclear, Tripoli was “the scene of violent tension” in several underprivileged areas of the city, reports the French newspaper The Orient-The Day.
In Beirut, protesters gathered outside the home of Lebanese Prime Minister, Tripoli MP and billionaire Najib Mikati. “The castaways are the victims of the situation in the country, deputies from Tripoli and all of Lebanon”, launched one of them, while the political class has been accused for more than two years of letting the country sink.
In Saida, a large Sunni-majority city in southern Lebanon, protesters held a sit-in in solidarity with migrants from Tripoli.
In recent years, the number of sea crossing attempts has increased considerably, especially since the start of the economic and financial crisis in the fall of 2019. According to the UN, at least 1,570 people, including 186 Lebanese, have left or attempted to leave Lebanon illegally by sea between January and November 2021, with the European island of Cyprus in sight. Until now, most of the migrants have been Syrian refugees settled in Lebanon who had fled the war, but more and more Lebanese are now trying to cross.