A young woman and her baby, still wrapped around in her arms, lie at the bottom of the sea after drowning. This is one of the most harrowing discoveries of the recuperation operations off the Lebanese coast last week. Over 30 dead bodies still need to be recovered; they drowned last April after attempting to reach Italian shores.
The bottom of the Mediterranean sea, described by Pope Francis as 'the largest cemetery in Europe' due to the high number of migrants who lost their lives there, now is also the resting place for a little boy who was found still hugging his mother. The harrowing account comes from the coasts of Lebanon.
The country is on the brink of economic collapse. For years now, hundreds of Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian nationals flee from the country and try to reach Italy: "There was a woman on the bottom of the sea, her body was trapped in the porthole, while she was holding her baby," recounted a rescue team member who took part in the operations in northern Lebanon to try to recuperate the bodies of the over 30 people who drowned four months ago in a shipwreck.
Victims' families call for an international inquiry on shipwreck causes
On April 24, a ship carrying over 85 migrants sank in uncertain circumstances which still need to be verified. It happened after the ship came into contact with a Lebanese military patrol boat. Approximately forty people, mostly women and children, remained fatally trapped on the boat.
Some survivors accused the Lebanese military of having sunk the ship on purpose, but the navy firmly denies the accusation. The victims' family lawyers ask that an international inquiry be opened, as the Lebanese investigation was de facto closed. The hope was that the recovery of the ship could provide indications and proof to investigators as to the causes that brought the ship to sink.
For the past three years Lebanon has been hit by the worst financial crisis of its history. According to the UN, over 80% of the population now lives under the poverty line and, since 2020 an exponential number of Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinians residing in Lebanon have tried to escape and reach Europe.
The operation was a private initiative funded by victims' families
The recuperation operations of the bodies were formally coordinated by the Lebanese military navy. However, the recuperation attempt, which took place with months of delay, was initiated thanks to the funding raised partly by the families of the victims who are from the area of Tripoli and from Australia.
After a few attempts that uncovered the remains of the bodies of a few people who were brought to the surface -- remains that disintegrated themselves under the eyes of onlookers once they reached the surface -- the Lebanese military navy informed the Australian NGO on Wednesday it could not continue operations.
The reason provided referred to 'safety issues'. The mission ended and the submarine with its technical equipment already left Lebanon, leaving families without answers and without loved ones bodies to bury. The approximately 30 bodies, among them the mother and son, are destined to remain at the bottom of the sea.