Raed Al-Dandashi insists that the body of the woman rumored to have been seen embracing a child's body is indeed that of his wife and daughter, "without a doubt," as he stated yesterday to Asharq Al-Awsat, affirming that they are the precious missing persons he desires to recover in any way possible. Raed adds, "Now they are looking for a religious fatwa on whether they can retrieve bodies that will decompose and scatter once touched or attempted to be brought out of the water. We are not convinced, and we want our children and loved ones to be buried peacefully." Any new updates about the death boat, which sank off the coast of Tripoli four months ago, seem to amplify the pain of families still searching for their missing, numbering around thirty individuals, mostly children and women.
The boat, carrying around eighty people of Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian nationalities, left the northern Lebanese shores on April 23, heading to Italy, but was pursued by the Lebanese army in an attempt to stop and return it, ultimately resulting in its sinking. Victims' families accuse soldiers of ramming the vessel and causing the tragedy.
Forty-five individuals survived, while seven bodies were recovered, including that of Raed Al-Dandashi's son, Baha (8 years old), whereas his wife and daughter Ghazal (13 years old) remain missing, believed to be among the bodies spotted underwater.
With the arrival of an Indian submarine that began searching, the Lebanese army announced on Thursday that the rescue submarine crew had finally located the sunken boat off the coast of Tripoli in the north of the country. The submarine, specifically brought in to search for the bodies and assist the families, continued operations yesterday in an attempt to gather more information and clearer images, which Raed states, "What we have received so far is unclear and unconvincing, and they could take better images to reassure us and restore our trust in what they say."
The submarine was funded by a group of Lebanese expatriates in Australia, along with support from others in various countries particularly for the search for the victims' bodies. It is trying to gather more information about the sunken boat after locating it at a depth of 459 meters, about 130 meters from the site of the sinking, which had been approximately identified by the Lebanese naval forces. The submarine managed to capture images of the vessel resting on the seabed from various angles, which the army command published on its Twitter account. However, according to the submarine commander, retrieving the now buried boat amid debris and rocks is difficult, as is the matter of recovering the bodies.
This has led families to feel that they are drifting further away from their goal rather than moving closer. Raed Al-Dandashi states, "They have taken us back to square one. To the day the incident occurred with all its pain and tragedies, instead of us feeling some relief or that we are beginning to learn the truth of what happened that fateful day."
