Lebanese and UN troops rescue migrants vessel, 2 killed

Lebanon's navy and U.N. peacekeepers on Saturday rescued more than 200 migrants from a boat sinking in the Mediterranean Sea hours after it left northern Lebanon’s coast, the military said in a statement. Two migrants were killed in the incident. The statement said the vessel was carrying people “who were trying to illegally leave Lebanon’s territorial waters.”

It said three Lebanese navy boats and one from the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon rescued 232 migrants. Lebanese security forces have been working to prevent migrants from heading to Europe at a time when the small nation is in the grips of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.