Sep 22, 2018

Lebanon's navy rescued dozens of people, including Syrians, from a sinking boat off the country's northern coast on Saturday, the military and a security source said, adding one child had died.

The military said in a statement it responded early Saturday to a sinking boat with at least 39 Syrian nationals on board "who were heading to Cyprus via an illegal route".

"A navy patrol unit immediately headed there, retrieved the body of a five-year-old child and rescued the rest" of the passengers, it said.

Four of those rescued were taken to nearby hospitals with the help of the Lebanese Red Cross, the statement added.

The Red Cross confirmed to AFP that it was involved in the rescues, but declined to give any further details.