Beirut - A ship with more than 80 people on board sank off the northern Lebanon port of Tripoli on Thursday, Lebanese security sources said. The Lebanese army and members of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) launched an operation to rescue those on board, the sources added.
UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tennenti told the German Press Agency that UNIFIL dispatched three warships from its Maritime Task Force to help in the rescue effort.
"We only know that it is a merchant ship with some 83 people on board who are believed to be seamen," Tennenti said.
Lebanese police said four crew members had been rescued from the Panamanian flagged vessel, which was transporting cattle to the Syrian port of Tartus.
