REPORT: Lebanese authorities follow up on the case of the Indonesian boat disaster

         
President Michel Sleiman followed up on Monday with the concerned authorities the case of the Lebanese nationals who lost their lives in the asylum seeking boat that sank off the Indonesian coast.

He urged the concerned authorities to adopt the necessary measures to retrieve the bodies of the victims and return the survivors to Lebanon, as well as launch investigations into the incident.

For his part, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati asserted that the Lebanese state provided accommodation for Lebanese survivors in a hotel in Jakarta alongside necessary aid.

Mikati said that the personal papers of the survivors are being prepared in order to be sent to Jakarta.

Meanwhile, a meeting was held in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to follow up on the case of the victims of the Indonesian boat tragedy.

In this regard, the Ministry decided to dispatch a delegation presided by the Secretary General of the High Relief Commission to travel to Indonesia.

The General Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Haytham Jomaa told LBCI that the Lebanese survivors were not arrested by the Indonesian authorities, adding that the Indonesian police only interrogated them.

This comes as the relatives of the victims blocked several main roads in Akkar to protest what they view as "inaction on the part of Lebanese officials in terms of the disaster."

They called on all concerned authorities to reveal the fate of the passengers and recover the survivors.

Dozens of Lebanese nationals hailing from the town of Akkar were reported dead on Friday, September 26 after a boat carrying them to Australia sank off the coast of Indonesia.

Preliminary information showed that an Iraqi national known as Abou Salah was in charge of transferring the persons to Indonesia before reaching Australia.

The boat, believed to be carrying about 100 people, capsized off West Java's Sukabumi district after being hit by high waves.

The boat, carrying asylum seekers from Lebanon, Pakistan and Iraq, was headed for Australia's Christmas Island.


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LBCI/AP