he death toll from the crash of a migrant boat off the coast of the Syrian province of Tartus has reached 100, the head of Syrian port authority, Samer Kbrasli, said on Tuesday.
“Emergency services have recovered 100 bodies from the shipwreck site off Tartus coast,” Kbrasli told Syrian state news agency SANA.
All passengers that were rescued from the shipwreck site have already been discharged from hospital, according to the news agency.
The ship left Lebanon for Cyprus last week, with Syrian, Lebanese, and Palestinian nationals on board, as well as other people with unknown citizenship. One survivor said the total number of passengers was about 150.
The Lebanese army said that it arrested a suspect who organized the transportation of migrants on this ship, and he has since admitted his guilt.
The rescue operation started on September 22. Kbrasli stated that the Lebanese authorities did not warn Damascus about the missing boat with migrants and contacted Syrian authorities only after the incident.
