Coast Guard refuses to help: Four children die of thirst on board a boat from Lebanon to Italy | Abroad
Migrant drama in the Mediterranean. Four Syrian children died of thirst while crossing from Lebanon to Italy. The Greek and Maltese coast guards refused to provide assistance for days.
Ten days of floating in the Mediterranean was fatal to four-year-old Luijin. The Syrian girl died of thirst on a boat.
At the end of August, she boarded a boat in Lebanon with her mother, one-year-old sister, and more than 50 other Syrian refugees in Lebanon, hoping to reach Italy. Halfway through, the fuel ran out and the ship created water. The ship moved between Malta, Cyprus and Greece, but requests for assistance were ignored by both Malta and Greece for several days. Only on September 6, ten days after they left Lebanon, were the migrants picked up by a cargo ship and taken to Pozzallo in Sicily.
Seven dead in total
Lujen has already died and her little sister is in a critical condition in the hospital. Upon arrival in Sicily, it appears that there are still six people on board, including three children, who did not survive the flight. It concerns people between the ages of 1, 2 and 12 years old. According to the stories of survivors, the bodies of children were dumped by their parents.
Italian authorities note that more and more migrants from Lebanon and Turkey are crossing into Italy, a dangerous journey that can easily take ten days. Aid organizations fear more deaths in the Mediterranean.
This year, 63,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by boat. The vast majority left from Libya and Tunisia.
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