Despair in Lebanon pushing some to flee to Europe in boats

Mohammed Sufian did t dream of much: a job, food on table, chance to buy his 2½-year-old son little things a toddler wants.

So when he heard that smugglers were taking people from his hometown of Tripoli to nearby Mediterranean island of Cyprus, he decided to take chance with his pregnant wife and child. To pay ir way, he sold his furniture and two of his sister’s bracelets.

y boarded a small fishing boat with ors. But what would be expected to be a 40-hour trip went bly: For eight harrowing days, y were stranded in Mediterranean Sea, apparently losing ir way and running out of diesel. At least four ults and two children died — including Sufian’s little boy. Six are missing.

“I took my son with me t to give him a high life, t to give him life of rich people,” said Sufian, 21. “I was trying to give him a good life where if he will ask me for a potato chip bag or a juice box I am able to give it to him. This is what drove me out of country.”

In recent weeks, scores of ors have tried to make same illicit sea crossing, attempting to flee a country facing multiple crises and an unprecedented ecomic and financial collapse.

Generations of Lebanese have emigrated due to war and conflict, including waves of Lebanese who traveled by boat legally to Cyprus during country’s 1975-90 war. But this new flight — people risking ir lives to make illegal crossings in rickety fishing boats to escape poverty — reflects a level of desperation country has t seen before.

Tens of thousands of people have lost ir jobs in past months. local currency has lost 80% of its value, ericating purchasing power of many in this tiny country of 5 million where corruption and mismanment are widespre. Unemployment has reached a soaring 35% and poverty is skyrocketing.

crisis has been worsened by coronavirus pandemic and last month’s massive explosion at Beirut port which fed despair among a population that has long given up on its leers.

Tripoli, Leban’s second largest city, h been one of poorest and most neglected regions even before crisis. city is also home to tens of thousands of Syrians who fled civil war in ir country that broke out in March 2011. Many of those taking boats have been Syrian refugees.

Earlier this month, authorities in Cyprus said y were alarmed by arrival of four boats carrying Syrian and Lebanese migrants in waters off its coastline. European Union member Cyprus and Leban have an agreement to prevent migrants from reaching island nation.

boat carrying Sufian’s family and 46 or men, women and children, mostly Lebanese and Syrians, left Tripoli on Sept. 7. Each h paid smuggler equivalent of up to $930 in Lebanese pounds.

Upon boarding, all ir belongings, including food and water, were taken away — ostensibly, y were too heavy. All would be returned, brought to m by ar boat once y are away from Leban’s coast, y were told.

y never got m back, and were left under scorching sun, without water or food.

Sufian said that 20 hours after y sailed, his son began asking for water and milk. Having thing to give and overcome by heat and his own worry, Sufian fainted, he says. When he woke up, Sufian found that his relatives h given boy three bottles of sea water.

“My son died later because of lack of food and water,” Sufian said. He washed his son and followed Islamic trition of covering him with a cloth. Three days later, he dropped body into sea, thinking y might never make it back to land.

Sufian said several ships passed stranded boat but one helped, perhaps because y feared pirates. After six deaths, a half-dozen men leapt into sea to seek help.

Ibrahim Lisheen, a 22-year-old migrant, swam for hours. Finally, he reached a warship for U.N. peacekeeping force in Leban kwn as UNIFIL; its crew rescued those remaining on boat. y were offered treatment and handed over to Lebanese authorities in Beirut.

Late Thursday, body of a young man believed to have been on ship washed up on coast south of Beirut. Six are still missing, among m Mohammed Mohammed, 27, who left Leban to help his parents and seven sisters.

His far, Khaldoun, says his son h been jobless for years after he lost his job at a shop that sells fire extinguishers; he grew tired of taking “money from me to buy cigarettes,” and decided to join cousins who were making crossing. Mohammed h sold his sister’s neckless to pay smugglers.

two men who took money and put migrants on fishing boat are in hiding and families are demanding that y be punished.

Mohammed’s mor, Afaf Abdul-Hamid, goes to coast of Tripoli every day, hoping that her son will swim home. “se are human traffickers. y took my son to middle of sea and left him re with food or water.”

Lisheen, whose heroics led to rescue, is furious. “Look at my body, it was eaten by fish. My body is swollen, my teeth were broken due to salty water and I lost a lot of things,” he said, as friends massd his body with Aloe Vera to alleviate his sunburn.

Why did he take risk? “I did that because of poverty, it makes us blind,” he said. “To those who are asking me why you are leaving, I am telling m why, I am leaving in order to feed my family, my mor.”

Sufian and his wife, expected to give birth in two months, live with ir sorrow. And grieving far relives, again and again, moment when his dreams of a better life for his family became a nightmare.

“My son died due to thirst, I shrouded him with my hands, I washed him with my hands and with my hands I dropped him in water after three days, because I lost hope.