Iran Press/ Middle East: The incident is one of the deadliest since many Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians have tried to flee crisis-hit Lebanon by sea to Europe.
On Friday, the Lebanese transport minister said that 61 people had died in Thursday’s disaster.
The Syrian transport ministry cited survivors as saying the boat left from Lebanon’s northern Minyeh region on Tuesday with between 120 and 150 people onboard.
Samer Qubrusli, the Syrian director general of ports, said search operations were ongoing on Friday. He had previously said that rough seas and strong winds had made the rescue operation difficult.
The Syrian government had previously said that 20 survivors were treated in Basel hospital in Tartous.
In April, a boat carrying dozens of Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians trying to migrate by sea to Italy went down more than 5km (3 miles) from the port of Tripoli following a confrontation with the Lebanese navy. Dozens were killed in the incident.
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