The entry of bodies from Syrian Tartous into northern Lebanon continued yesterday for the fourth consecutive day following the sinking of the "Death Boat" off the coast of Tartous and the Syrian island of Arwad. At the same time, hopes of finding survivors or even identifying some of the bodies by those searching for their relatives - after learning they were aboard this boat - are fading. The death toll reached nearly a hundred by noon yesterday, after the Syrian Ports Authority reported that "the number of victims from the boat that sank off the Tartous coast has risen to 99 people so far, following the discovery of a new body."
Meanwhile, calls from within Tartous continued urging families and relatives of the victims to head to al-Bassel Hospital in an effort to identify the remaining bodies. The Secretary-General of the Supreme Relief Commission, Major General Mohammad Khair, revealed yesterday that "there are forty bodies of martyrs who drowned in the boat off the coast of the Syrian island of Arwad, and their identities have not yet been identified." Information disclosed that among the Palestinians who were on board the boat, there were 30 individuals, of whom 3 survived, and 8 bodies were identified, while 19 remain missing. Meanwhile, reports indicate the presence of 50 Lebanese passengers, with the remainder being Syrian nationals, most of whom are from inland Syria rather than refugees in Lebanon.
In the meantime, the issue of the "Death Boat" and illegal migration continues to be a matter of extensive debate in Akkar and Tripoli, amid discussions circulating about the involvement of high-profile security and political figures alongside smugglers in organizing the trips and distributing funds, as one of the boats that left the north previously collected around 750,000 US dollars from its passengers. Details of the fatal journey are also beginning to emerge through some survivors who indicate that it felt like a nightmare, during which the captain tried several times not to set sail. However, he was forced by the trip organizers, and the boat malfunctioned several times until it ultimately capsized after traveling for 6 hours due to the rough waves.
