A boat carrying around 25 refugees, all of whom are Syrians, sank off the coast of Libya, while fishermen managed to rescue some of the drowning migrants.

The Consolidated Rescue Group stated today, Thursday, November 21, that the boat was carrying approximately 25 Syrian refugees, most of whom were from Daraa province, but it sank about two hours after departing from the shores of Tripoli.

The sinking of the boat resulted in the loss of many passengers, including women and children.

The Rescue Group added that the boat in which the Syrian refugees sank was not equipped with communication devices, and the person responsible for the trip is the Libyan smuggler Khaled al-Matwaly.

A correspondent for Enab Baladi in Daraa reported that most of the missing after the sinking of the boat are from the town of al-Karak al-Sharqi in the countryside of Daraa.

The families of the town confirmed the rescue of three out of 25 people, while the others are still missing, and another boat may have managed to rescue some of them.

The Consolidated Rescue Group published a recording showing a Libyan fisherman who managed to save three young Syrian men, and one of the surviving young men stated that they sank yesterday, Wednesday, at 3:30 AM, while two other young men appeared lying on the boat from exhaustion.

For its part, the Horan Free League stated that two hours after the boat departed from the shores of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, water began to seep inside, and the driver lost balance and threw himself into the sea shortly before it sank.

The League added that the boat is about seven meters long (a fiber type) with two engines, carrying women and children, and fishermen were able to rescue several people after about four hours, while the remaining ones are still missing.

The League confirmed that Libyan fishermen negotiated with the families of four survivors from the boat, asking for money in exchange for releasing them or handing them over to the Libyan authorities.

Incidents of migrant drowning in the Mediterranean Sea are recurrent, as thousands of Syrians and other nationalities resort to boarding unsafe boats in search of a better life.

Attempts to migrate across the Mediterranean to reach Europe are active from both the coasts of Lebanon and the coasts of North African countries, which is one of the main routes Syrians take, in addition to the route through Turkey.

Cases of Syrians drowning from various Syrian provinces have been recorded over the past years, but Daraa province shows a clear increase in asylum attempts that sometimes turn into humanitarian disasters.

Last September, the Italian coast guard rescued seven Syrians out of 28 asylum seekers whose boat sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa, after they set sail from the Libyan shores.

The survivors mentioned at that time that they departed on September 1 from the shores of Libya, but their boat sank due to harsh weather conditions.