2 Months after Tragedy, Families of Tripoli Boat Sinking Victims Still Waiting to Recover Their Bodies

Angry mourners at the funeral of the victims of the boat sinking in Tripoli on April 25. (EPA)
Angry mourners at the funeral of the victims of the boat sinking in Tripoli on April 25. (EPA)
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2 Months after Tragedy, Families of Tripoli Boat Sinking Victims Still Waiting to Recover Their Bodies

Angry mourners at the funeral of the victims of the boat sinking in Tripoli on April 25. (EPA)
Angry mourners at the funeral of the victims of the boat sinking in Tripoli on April 25. (EPA)

Two months have passed since the sinking of a migrant boat off the shores of the Lebanese northern city of Tripoli that was carrying more than 70 people. However, the bodies of dozens of persons are still at the bottom of the sea, as Lebanese authorities have been unable to recover them.

Reports of a submarine brought in by a Lebanese association in Australia to retrieve the bodies were followed by the families with little hope and a lot of skepticism.

Ameed Dandashi lost his three children in the tragedy, when he was attempting to emigrate with his family from Lebanon towards Europe on April 23. His surviving wife is unable to speak from the shock. She hasn't spoken a word since.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “I can no longer look at the sea, nor approach it. We are not talking about what happened because it is beyond our capacity to bear. Our life is a real hell. We do not sleep, eat or drink, and we are suffer from psychological trauma. They burned our hearts and deprived us of hearing the word dad and mom. They are monsters.”

Ameed and his wife miraculously escaped drowning, but the couple lost all their children: Assad (40 days), Jawad (8 years), and Fidaa (5 years). These children are still missing, along with dozens of other people.

The army managed to rescue 45 people after the accident, and retrieved six bodies. Estimates suggest that 23 people are still unaccounted for.

Dandashi, who is in charge of communications with the concerned authorities on behalf of the families of the victims, said that the submarine that is expected to retrieve the boat and the bodies was donated by Lebanese immigrants in Australia. It was sent by a Lebanese association there, and is owned by an Indian company based in Spain.

He added that the submarine would not reach the shores of Beirut before July 13.

The arrival of the vessel has been repeatedly delayed. The brother of the missing, Mohammad al-Hamwi, says: “We have been waiting for two months.”

“All we want is for them to bring us the bodies of our dead so we can bury them in peace,” said Mazen Monzer Talib, 24, who is waiting to recover the bodies of his mother, 48, father 48, older brother, 26, and younger brother, 10.

Mazen put his only surviving brother, 12, in the custody of his married sister, who was supposed to join them.

“Only my father knew the details of the trip. He told us to pack just two hours before departure. My mother was the most enthusiastic, and she did not object. We wanted to get to Greece and then Italy, and then we would manage,” Mazen said.

He lives alone today in his home, after the death of his parents and brothers.

“Yes, I work, but I suffer from asthma and cannot buy my medicine. My father was sick… He was hospitalized several times, and we could not find medicine for him. Our goal was to reach a safe country.”



The US Election by Numbers

Clark County Election Workers inspect mail-in ballots for the 2024 Election at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 02 November 2024. (EPA)
Clark County Election Workers inspect mail-in ballots for the 2024 Election at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 02 November 2024. (EPA)
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The US Election by Numbers

Clark County Election Workers inspect mail-in ballots for the 2024 Election at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 02 November 2024. (EPA)
Clark County Election Workers inspect mail-in ballots for the 2024 Election at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 02 November 2024. (EPA)

Swing states, electoral college votes, candidates up and down the ballot, and millions of potential voters: Here is the US election, broken down by numbers.

- Two -

Several independents ran -- and at least one, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, stumbled into a number of eyebrow-raising headlines.

But in the end, the presidential race comes down to a binary choice, with the two candidates from the major parties -- Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump -- seeking to lead a polarized America.

- Five -

November 5 -- Election Day, traditionally held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November.

- Seven -

The number of swing states -- those which don't clearly favor one party over the other, meaning they are up for grabs.

Harris and Trump are courting voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, concentrating their campaign efforts there in a push to ensure victory.

In a razor-tight election, just a handful of votes in any of those states could decide the outcome.

- 34 and 435 -

Voters won't just decide the White House occupant on Election Day -- they will also hit refresh on the US Congress.

Thirty-four Senate seats and all 435 spots in the House of Representatives are up for grabs.

In the House, members serve a two-year term. Republicans currently have the majority, and Harris's Democrats will be hoping for a turnaround.

In the Senate, 34 seats out of 100 are available, for a six-year term. Republicans are hoping to overturn the narrow Democratic majority.

- 538 -

Welcome to the Electoral College, the indirect system of universal suffrage that governs presidential elections in the United States.

Each state has a different number of electors -- calculated by adding the number of their elected representatives in the House, which varies according to population, to the number of senators (two per state).

Rural Vermont, for example, has just three electoral votes. Giant California, meanwhile, has 54.

There are 538 electors in total scattered across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. To take the White House, a candidate must win 270 votes.

- 774,000 -

The number of poll workers who made sure the 2020 election ran smoothly, according to the Pew Research Center.

There are three types of election staff in the United States.

The majority are poll workers -- recruited to do things like greet voters, help with languages, set up voting equipment, and verify voter IDs and registrations.

Election officials are elected, hired or appointed to carry out more specialized duties such as training poll workers, according to Pew.

Poll watchers are usually appointed by political parties to observe the ballot count -- expected to be particularly contentious this year, thanks to Trump's refusal to agree to unconditionally accept the result.

Many election workers have already spoken to AFP about the pressure and threats they are receiving ahead of the November 5 vote.

- 75 million -

As of November 2, more than 75 million Americans had voted early, according to a University of Florida database.

Most US states permit in-person voting or mail-in voting to allow people to deal with scheduling conflicts or an inability to cast their ballots on election day itself on November 5.

- 244 million -

The number of Americans who will be eligible to vote in 2024, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

How many of those will actually cast their ballot remains to be seen, of course. But the Pew Research Center says that the midterm elections of 2018 and 2022, and the presidential vote of 2020, produced three of the highest turnouts of their kind seen in the United States in decades.

"About two-thirds (66 percent) of the voting-eligible population turned out for the 2020 presidential election -- the highest rate for any national election since 1900," Pew says on its website.

That translated to nearly 155 million voters, according to the Census Bureau.