Tragic Incident on Overloaded Vessel
A Cyprus court has sentenced a Syrian man to three years in prison for causing the death of a 3-year-old girl due to negligence aboard an overloaded migrant boat. The Famagusta criminal court found that the 48-year-old captain failed to safeguard the 60 Syrian passengers during a perilous journey in January 2024, during which the boat lacked essential navigational tools and communication equipment.
Unsuitable Decisions During Crisis
The captain’s actions during the voyage were particularly alarming, as he instructed passengers to discard their remaining water bottles to conceal their departure from Lebanon. The boat set sail on January 18, 2024, but engine failure left the vessel drifting for nearly a week in the eastern Mediterranean. Faced with severe dehydration, passengers resorted to drinking seawater and their own urine to survive.
Desperate Rescue Efforts
After locating the stranded boat, Cypriot authorities managed to airlift the young girl and her mother to a nearby hospital. Sadly, medical personnel could not revive the girl. The authorities have not disclosed the names of the captain or the child involved in this heartbreaking incident.
Decline in Migrant Arrivals
In recent years, Cyprus has implemented strict measures, resulting in a significant decrease in the number of migrants arriving on its shores. The number of migrant arrivals plummeted from 17,278 in 2022 to just 6,102 in 2024. Consequently, asylum applications dropped sharply from a record 21,565 to 6,769 within the same timeframe, while repatriations rose to nearly 11,000.
Shift in Asylum Applications
Following Bashar al-Assad’s removal from power in Syria, Cyprus’ Deputy Migration Minister, Nicholas Ioannides, reported that an average of 40 Syrian nationals daily have sought to withdraw their asylum applications or revoke their international protection status. In total, about 755 Syrians have returned to Syria so far. Cyprus, being the closest EU nation to the Middle East, has seen a substantial number of fleeing Syrians, prompting the government to halt the processing of asylum applications entirely last year.
SOURCE: Ref Image from The New Arab
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