Lebanon's navy rescued dozens of people, including Syrians, from a sinking boat off the country's northern coast on Saturday, the military and a security source said, adding one child had died.

The military said in a statement it responded early Saturday to a sinking boat with at least 39 Syrian nationals on board "who were heading to Cyprus via an illegal route".

"A navy patrol unit immediately headed there, retrieved the body of a five-year-old child and rescued the rest" of the passengers, it said.

Four of those rescued were taken to nearby hospitals with the help of the Lebanese Red Cross, the statement added.

The Red Cross confirmed to AFP that it was involved in the rescues, but declined to give any further details.

A security source told AFP that Palestinian refugees were also among those rescued.

"The child who died was a Palestinian refugee from the Nahr al-Bared camp," in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, the source said.

The four people being treated in hospital included one Palestinian woman and three Syrians, the source added.

The United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR) has registered nearly one million Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Humanitarian representatives and government officials say the number is likely much higher, since many refugees who have fled Syria's civil war to Lebanon are not officially registered with the United Nations.

Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees also live in Lebanon, in a dozen squalid camps spread across the country.

Earlier this month, Cyprus announced it was looking to broker a repatriation agreement with Beirut because of an increased influx of migrants from Lebanon to the Mediterranean island.

Interior Minister Constantinos Petrides said his country faces one of the largest migratory flows per capita, with 4,022 asylum requests in the first eight months of 2018 -- 55 percent more than in the same period last year.

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Toll jumps to 22 in Philippine monsoon landslide
Manila (AFP) Sept 21, 2018
The death toll from a monsoon landslide in the central Philippines has risen to 22, officials said Friday, as rescuers dug through the night in a frantic search for survivors of the latest tragedy in the storm-hit nation. Dozens were still missing after part of a massive hillside collapsed Thursday on several rural communities near Naga on the tourist island of Cebu. The rescue effort came as the nation was still reeling from Typhoon Mangkhut, which killed 88, mostly in a massive landslide in th ... read more