Lebanese MP urgently requests Italian sea rescue
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Raven Ruma
- . December 20, 2022
- . Update: December 20, 2022 8:40 pm
Rome has been urged by a Lebanese MP to save 70 migrants from Lebanon who were on a boat that capsized off the coastlines of Malta and Italy.
Former director of the Internal Security Forces and deputy major general Ashraf Rifi posted on Twitter: “We appeal to Italy, the friendly country of Lebanon, to take the initiative to rescue 70 Lebanese migrants stuck in their primitive and disabled boat off the Maltese and Italian coasts, after they threw themselves into the sea fleeing Lebanon.”
According to a group of migrants who left Lebanon 10 days ago and alerted the local emergency hotline, two children have apparently perished in the waters that fall inside the Maltese search-and-rescue region.
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The hotline’s operator, Alarm Phone, an NGO, could not confirm the circumstances but expressed concern over the reports, according to the Times of Malta. Since the boat ran into difficulties, the migrants have been drifting in misery.
The NGO said that there was no food or water left for the migrants on the ship, which was sinking, and that several migrants had jumped overboard as a result of the deteriorating circumstances. According to Alarm Phone, Malta’s government refused to approve a rescue effort, endangering the lives of the refugees.
Rifi claimed that in order to assure the migrants’ survival, the Lebanese government must now rely on Italian assistance.
He tweeted, “We urge the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Lebanese Embassy in Rome to get in touch right once to prevent a new tragedy.”
