A ship containing displaced migrants that left the port of Miniyeh, near Tripoli, was involved in some type of wreck killing 71 migrants and hospitalizing another 20. The ship was believed to be carrying somewhere between 120 and 170 migrants and was apparently headed to Europe. Most of the migrants were Syrians, Lebanese, and Palestinians. Passengers included women, children, men and elderly people.
This is yet another heart-wrenching tragedy and we extend our deepest condolences to all those impacted,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Migrants understand the risk associated with getting on these ships but are willing to board because of horrendous and inhuman living conditions.
António Vitorino, IOM Director General, declared that those simply looking for safety “should not be compelled to take such perilous and often deadly migration journeys”.
“We must work together to increase safe and legal pathways to regular migration to help reduce loss of life and protect vulnerable people on the move.”
Our global migration process has to be improved to facilitate migration from dangerous situations across the world. Time to remove politics from the equation and create viable, humanitarian-like solutions.
