Lebanese and UN troops rescue migrants vessel, 2 killed

By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s navy and U.N. peacekeepers have rescued more than 200 migrants from a boat sinking in the Mediterranean Sea hours after it left northern Lebanon’s coast, the military said in a statement. Two migrants were killed in the incident. The army statement said the vessel was carrying people “who were trying to illegally leave Lebanon’s territorial waters.” It said three Lebanese navy boats and one from the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, recused 232 migrants. Reports from the northern city of Tripoli said Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian men, women and children were on the boat that left northern Lebanon after midnight Friday.