Cyprus recovers seven bodies after migrant boat capsizes

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NICOSIA (Reuters) -The bodies of seven people were recovered off Cyprus on Monday after authorities mounted a search and rescue operation following the capsize of a boat carrying migrants, Cyprus’s state broadcaster said.

An unspecified number of individuals were believed to be missing, while two people were recovered alive from international waters about 30 nautical miles (55.5 km) south-east of the island, the broadcaster said.

Other reports said the vessel, located around midday on Monday, was thought to have set off from Tartous in Syria with 20 or 21 people on board.

Cyprus’s search and rescue coordination centre said assets were in the region coordinating a rescue operation, without mentioning casualties.

“There is elevated vigilance from port police and today’s incident with (discovering) the first survivor was completely by chance,” Justice Minister Marios Hartziotis told a news briefing.

Alarmphone, an advocacy group, said on March 16 that relatives contacted the group late Saturday, offering coordinates of the last known location of people on a boat which was in distress. It said the last known location matched the location of the shipwreck.

In its March 16 post on X, Alarmphone said it informed Cyprus authorities who said they were investigating the report.

The island, an EU member state, lies about 100 nautical miles west of Lebanon and Syria. Early last year it suspended examination of asylum applications from Syrians, following a surge in the numbers of people crossing in small boats.

(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Angus MacSwan, William Maclean and Toby Chopra)