In Lebanon, boat tragedy kills 94 but others plan to migrate

By BILAL HUSSEIN and BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

NAHR EL-BARED, Lebanon (AP) — Thousands of Palestinians have held prayers in a small football field in a refugee camp in northern Lebanon for one of the scores of migrants who lost their lives this week when their boat sank off Syria’s coast. Saturday’s funeral came as the death toll from the migrant boat incident rose to 94 making it the deadliest so far as surging numbers of people flee crisis-hit Lebanon. The Lebanese army announced that troops have detained the man who allegedly organized the deadly trip. Lebanon’s three-year economic crisis is considered one of the worst the world has witnessed since the 1850s and has pushed three-quarters of the country into poverty.