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France 24
France 24
World
Sharon GAFFNEY

Fleeing Lebanon to escape poverty: At least 100 die in migrant shipwreck

MIDDLE EAST MATTERS © FRANCE 24

Three years into Lebanon's devastating financial collapse, some 80 percent of the population is now living below the poverty line. The situation is driving more and more people to risk their lives on the open seas. Last month, at least a hundred people drowned when a migrant boat capsized off the Syrian coast. Our correspondents met a family who lost a father, mother and four children in the tragedy. 

For more on the soaring poverty that's driving the exodus, and how smugglers are organising their activities, we speak to Sharif Bibi, journalist at the InfoMigrants website.

Finally, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Iraqi Marshlands are getting drier each year due to what environmentalists say are ineffective government policies and the negative effects of climate change. Our correspondents went to meet farmers who now have no choice but to move to wetter lands. 

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