One day following the discovery of the “death boat” that had been in the depths of the sea for regarding four months off the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, the Lebanese army announced that it had found new evidence that it would put in the hands of the judiciary regarding the boat that killed dozens of migrants towards Europe.. What is it?
It came in a permit The Commander of the Lebanese Naval Forces, Colonel Haitham Dannawi, during a press conference at the port of Tripoli on the developments of the task of withdrawing the “Boat of Death” from the sea.
Dannawi said that “there is new evidence that we will put in the hands of the judiciary, in the hope that it will relieve the families of the victims,” without revealing additional details regarding the nature of the evidence.
He also stressed that “the army put all its capabilities at the disposal of the submarine (the boat was found on Thursday), with direct follow-up from the army commander, and I stress the transparency with which we deal with any issue.”
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Ongoing search efforts
While the army continues its search for more than 30 missing persons, among regarding 84 migrants who were on a migration boat that set off from the coast of Tripoli, 7 of them were killed in the accident, while 45 others were rescued, while the search for the missing continued for days without Find them, according to the Lebanese authorities.
It is believed that the missing persons were not identified or their bodies were revealed because they were stuck in a room inside the boat, according to accounts provided by survivors of the accident to the authorities, stressing the necessity of towing the boat.
This comes following the Lebanese army announced yesterday, Thursday, that it had found the sunken boat off Tripoli, at a depth of 459 meters and a distance of 130 meters from the sinking site identified by the Lebanese Naval Forces, and following preparations began last Monday, to launch the search process by a submarine regarding 5.6 meters in length and width. About 2.2 meters, it can reach a depth of 2180 meters, and its crew consists of 3 people.
At the time, Al-Dinawy announced in a press conference that the submarine supplied by the non-governmental organization “Aus Relief” had launched, but the high waves led to the postponement of the research work.
Read also: 13 people were killed following their boat collided with a ferry off the coast of Turkey
Demands for a transparent investigation into the “Boat of Death” incident
For his part, Tripoli MP Ashraf Rifi said during the conference that the army commander “demanded a transparent investigation regarding the sinking of the Tripoli boat.”
The accident was the result of the collision of the boat carrying migrants to the shores of Italy and a Lebanese army guard, two hours following sailing, according to the United Nations, with “at least 84 people, women, men and children” on board, most of them Lebanese, in addition to Palestinians and Syrians.
After the boat sank, the surviving passengers accused the army of deliberately colliding with their boat, causing them to sink, while the army denied this, stressing that “we worked to stop the boat and convince its captain that it was at risk of sinking, as it was loaded with more than 15 Weakness of its permissible payload, but they were not convinced, and the captain of the boat took the decision to carry out maneuvers to escape from the sentinel in a way that led to his crashing into it.”
accusations of inaction
On the other hand, according to reports, the Lebanese state failed to carry out its tasks, as it did not attach any importance to the exhumation of the victims, while MP Major General Ashraf Rifi took it upon himself to follow up on the arrival of the submarine to Lebanon, and an Australian-Lebanese humanitarian organization called “Aus Relief” took charge of collecting the costs from the expatriates. , which amounts to 251 thousand euros for the submarine only, excluding the rest of the expenses.
Attempts to migrate irregularly from Lebanon to European countries are increasing by Lebanese and Syrians, in light of an unprecedented deterioration in economic and social conditions and an increase in poverty rates.
Since late 2019, Lebanon has witnessed an economic crisis that the World Bank has classified as one of the 3 worst crises in the world, since the mid-nineteenth century.
Read also: Tensions with the Lebanese army because of drowned Migrant boat in Tripoli
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