Officials say a boat carrying around 60 migrants inverted off the coast of Lebanon on Saturday night, rescuing 45 people while confirming the death of a young girl and leaving the rest missing.

The Associated Press reported that 17 persons, including the young girl’s body, were carried to shore by Transportation Minister Ali Hamieh. He said that Lebanon’s navy later rescued 28 others.”Search activities for the remainder are underway,” said Hamieh, who is in charge of the rescue efforts.Because the migrants departed the country illegally, police did not have exact figures, he added. The boat, according to the Lebanese Red Cross, was carrying roughly 60 people.According to the Red Cross, ambulances have been dispatched to the port of Tripoli in northern Libya in case of injury.For many years, Lebanon was a refugee-accepting country; however, with the country’s economic collapse in October 2019, hundreds of people have departed on boats bound for Europe.Thousands of dollars have been paid to traffickers to transport migrants to Europe in the hope of a better life. Hundreds have arrived in European countries, while dozens more have been grabbed by the Lebanese navy and forced to return home. In the last three years, several people have died attempting to reach Europe.

The ship capsized near Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city, according to Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s office. The city of Tripoli is the poorest in Lebanon. The Lebanese army and authorities are on high alert as a result of the case, according to Mikati’s office.Lebanon, a small Mediterranean country with a population of 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees, is experiencing its worst economic crisis in modern times. More than three-quarters of the population is now living in poverty as a result of the economic downturn.According to the World Bank, this is one of the worst global crises since the 1850s. Thousands of individuals have lost their employment, and the value of the Lebanese pound has crashed by over 90%.