A child dies after being rescued along with 59 other Syrian migrants from a boat off Cyprus

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — One of the five children who were hospitalized in Cyprus after being rescued from a rickety boat along with 55 other Syrian migrants has died, an official said Thursday.

The migrants, who were rescued early Wednesday by Cyprus police, apparently ran out of food and water after sailing on the boat from Lebanon for six days, officials said.

Health Services spokesperson Charalambos Charilaou told the Cypriot state broadcaster that the child suffered a heart attack and couldn’t be revived.

Charilaou said two other children, aged 3 and 5, remain in intensive care at a hospital in the Cypriot capital. Two other minors are also being treated at a hospital, but their condition isn’t as serious.

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Two adults were also hospitalized with leg fractures. The remaining Syrians were transferred to a migrant reception center on the capital’s outskirts.

Police found the migrants about 55 kilometers (35 miles) off the island nation’s southeastern tip after a passing ship notified authorities of the boat’s presence.

Authorities said the boat had set sail from Lebanon on Jan. 18. Lebanon’s coast is about 168 kilometers (105 miles) from Cyprus.

Mohammed Sablouh, a Lebanese lawyer who follows migrant issues in his country, said the migrants were in bad shape because they hadn’t eaten for days.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides urged Lebanon’s government on Wednesday to take action to curb departures of migrants “because we know that these are Syrians who come here from Lebanon.”

Although overall migrant arrivals in Cyprus have significantly declined, those coming by sea almost quadrupled from 937 in 2022 to 3,889 in 2023, with almost all being Syrian, according to official interior ministry numbers.

Cypriot Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said the boat’s arrival was “unfortunate proof” of how people-smuggling rings are endangering lives by forcing migrants to make the journey aboard unsuitable craft.

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Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.