Two migrants drown, 232 rescued off Lebanon's northern coast

The Lebanese navy on Saturday rescued 232 Syrian migrants who were onboard a boat off the Batroun beach in northern Lebanon, and recovered the bodies of a drowned woman and her child, a Lebanese security source told Xinhua.

The source said that water got into the boat after it was broken, and the two migrants drowned before the navy's intervention to transfer them to the shore.

Andre Tenenti, the spokesperson of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), announced that the UNIFIL Maritime Force assisted the Lebanese Armed Forces navy in the rescue operation with an Indonesian and another Greek ship assisting at the site of the sinking boat which was on the way to Italy.

Lebanon has witnessed a wave of illegal migration attempts to Europe due to the deteriorating living conditions and collapse of the local currency.

One of these attempts led to the sinking of a boat in April, carrying over 80 Lebanese and Syrian migrants near the northern city of Tripoli.