A boat carrying 60 people sank on Saturday off the coast of Lebanon, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
The Lebanese army announced shortly after having rescued 17 people after the sinking of the boat, according to the NNA news agency, adding that a child had died.
The boat sank near Tripoli, in the north of the country. Seven ambulances were dispatched to the city port. The Lebanese Red Cross did not specify whether the passengers were migrants.
Lebanese flee their country in crisis
Most of those trying to leave Lebanon illegally by sea are Syrian refugees, but the number of Lebanese also trying to leave is on the rise, as the country is plunged into a serious economic and political crisis. In two years, the purchasing power of the Lebanese has collapsed and the local currency has lost more than 95% of its value on the black market.
Between January and November 2021, at least 1,570 people including 186 Lebanese sailed illegally or tried to sail from Lebanon, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in this country. Main destination: Cyprus, a member of the European Union, some 160 km away.