Today, Saturday, Syrian state television announced that the death toll after a migrant boat sank off the Syrian coast has risen to 94.

Rescuers had previously recovered 86 bodies. At least 20 people have been rescued and are in hospitals in Syria. Survivors said there may have been a total of 120 to 150 people on board.

According to local media, the ship left, on Tuesday morning, Tripoli, not far from the Syrian border, heading to Cyprus. According to the United Nations, people of different nationalities were on board the ship, including many Syrians, Lebanese and Palestinians. news agency Reuters I mentioned that it is the bloodiest drama ever involving an immigrant boat from Lebanon.

The boat is said to have sank 45 kilometers north of the Syrian island of Arwad. How this could happen is not clear. Syrian fishermen picked up the bodies and the first survivors and reported them to the authorities in the Syrian port of Tartus.

Lebanon has recently witnessed a sharp rise in immigration due to a deep economic crisis. In addition, a large number of Syrian refugees have settled in tiny Lebanon during the past ten years.

The number of people leaving or attempting to leave Lebanon by sea nearly doubled in 2021 compared to 2020. In 2022, the number increased by more than 70 percent compared to the same period last year.