Israeli authorities on Sunday feared there may be bodies of drowned migrants washing ashore on Israel's beaches after a dinghy was detected off the coast of Netanya. Personal effects, food water and passports of eight Somali and Turkish nationals were found on board.
Read more:
The fate of the people was unknown and there was concern that they may have drowned. Alternatively, the group may have abandoned the dinghy when it approached the shore.
The IDF began an investigation to determine how a boat that may have been carrying foreign nationals, entered Israeli waters, undetected.
2 View gallery
Coast guard searches for occupants of a dinghy that washed up on a Netanya beach
(Photo: Raanan Ben-Zur )
Many migrants who attempt to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea, often in ill-equipped vessels, have drowned including 78 who were lost when their boat capsized off the Greek coast last June. Authorities then rescued 100 people who said they had left Libya and were heading toward Italy, having arrived from Egypt. Among the dead were migrants from Egypt, Pakistan, Syria and some from the Palestinian territories.
According to the United Nations' International Organization for Migration, more than 187,000 people crossed the Mediterranean so far this year, and the group has recorded 2,093 deaths along the central Mediterranean route.
Reuters contributed to this report
MIGRANT BOAT WASHING ASHORE WITH DOCUMENTS BUT NO PEOPLE
(ILTV)
First published: 12:23, 10.01.23