مقتل وفقدان العشرات من اللبنانيين وانقاذ 18 بعد غرق عبارة تقلهم من اندونيسيا الى استراليا

blame it on Israel.. hayda 3amal souhyouni

What a Shame,We became like African Emigrant now

hope flamer/roar are ok?

This is a tragedy. They died looking for a better life.
God rest their souls.

It is a tragedy if this has happened

It would not have been a "Ferry" as they do not run between Indonesia and Australia.

People smugglers buy old and dangerous fishing boats for this one way trip.

Australia is being very hard on refugees that arrive by boat, our government has turned asylum seekers into a fear campaign and labels them dangerous and criminal.

I am not proud of what my country is doing to innocent people who are seeking help and shelter.

It is a disgrace. I am sorry

desperation

this is a massive issue in australia. illegals coming by unseaworthy boats across the ocean to Australia. they pay tens of thousands dollars to people smugglers that take their money and send them to die. they only hope to get to Australian waters so they can be rescued by the navy. Australian sovereign waters are the largest in the world. Over 1500 illegal immigrates have died trying over the past 4 years.

if they arrive in aussie waters they are put into detention camps and resettled outside in other countries like papa new guinea or malaysia. very strict but something that a country that honours it's sovereignty must do to control who comes into their country!

Lebanon could take a page out of Australia's book and control their refugee problem by setting up camps on the syrian border.

how sad is it that lebanon has now become the same as Afghanistan and Iraq?

But is lebanon really the same? there is freedom of religion, political freedom, and free enterprise.

Then again, there is too much religious control, too much sectarianism, too much political freedom so that it morphs into dangerous political/sectarian extremism and too much corruption. All adds up to... too much foreign traitorous allegiances. aka no national identity.

Those people put themselves in a highly risky situation, and paid a lot of money seeking for a better life, But recently Australian government has toughened the regulation and settling all illegal migrants in Papua new Guinea. I agreed with the Australian Government in not giving any permission to any illegal migrant to enter Australia, because those people are not ready and incapable to settle and live our values, lack of skills, as they will increase the costs on the tax payers. If someone wants to get in this country, he must go through the doors of Australian embassies for screening and qualifying them to come to this country, and be productive rather than being costly. On the other Hand, I'm very sad to hear and for the first time, that Lebanese are among those boats' people, this means the quality of life in Lebanon is much worse than the countries such as srilanka, India, Aghanistan,etc,,

I think it's a message to every lebanese to stop being arrogant, show off and thinking being better than south Asian people. Lebanese needs to work together again to improve their reputation and image abroad. Unfortunately, this image has been destroyed after the death of the first lebanese Man Rafic Harriri,

RIP. Sad story...

haile.selassie...Lebanon has never been like Afghanistan! Lebanese travel the world looking for commerce ever since the Phoenicians! Phoenicians were the first to circumnavigate africa, reach america, and even possibly the west coast of australia. not as refugees, but looking for commerce. Looking to make money and send back. Lebanese banks and the economy before the war was remarkable. no fake oil money. An educated people that made lebanon the pearl in the middle east. e.g. the concord, on its maiden flight, flew to rome then beirut and onto asia. no dubai or other fake desert oasis. Beirut, paris, London, new york etc were the glamorous cities. dubai and doha were deserts with tent dwelling Bedouins. Only Switzerland had more banks than lebanon! Afghanistan is the same as when Alexander the great invaded.

Migrants are different to refugees, just as Lebanon is very different to the rest of the "arab world".

Speakfreely: I'm sad about this tragedy but unfortunately, they made their choices and made their decision to have this destiny. I think you need to react differently, and respect their choice & decision. and they gambled their lives.

speakfreely... True, I mean no disrespect to the deceased and their families. May God rest their souls.

Why should people have to put themselves in such a dangerous situation. They can come to Australia the proper way it cost less then 10000 but they have to wait that's the only problem. Its sad lebanon has come to this stage because it is a really beautiful country and if politicans and government where one we would be one of the best countries in the world.

there is no more lebanon... it has disappeared thanks to the greediness of the politicians encouraged to continue by their sheep followers...
this country has become a retarded third world country filled with people happy of their fate....

Don't immigrate illegally. Canada now changing the immigration system just because of some Lebanese who likes and think they are smart and prefer to go illegal ways. Well, you want to leave Lebanon to countries, you have 1st to go through legal ways and that's it. In this way, you don't risk your life and you don't put Lebanon name like Arabic countries who also go and prefer dirty and illegal ways to reach their goals.

Our condolences to all the families of the victims and may God Bless Lebanon and the mentality of Lebanese!

Haile.selassie... your comment that I am a "tignorant typical Lebanese" is unfortunate coming from someone that obviously appreciates Selassie of ethiopia. phoenicians were never part of iraq. That was assiriya! Phoenicians were tyre, Sidon, Beirut and byblos cities states that were seafaring empire that challegened Rome through Hannibal from carthage in Tunisia. Why do you dismiss and mock this possibility? Do you mock the fact that Jews have right to jerusalem? They had been banished for 2000 years before they returned.

I don't claim that commerce is a gene, but rather argue that Lebanese have always been significant contributers to commerce, banking and trade since the time of their ancestors, the Phoenicians. This is a difference between Lebanese and afganis.

Agree to a certain extent about the Jewish religion today. Shlomo Sand's book http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shlomo_Sand#The_Invention_of_the_Jewish_People
is an interesting read.
However modern nations all have their own myths which shapes their characters.
We have the phoenicians, Western civilization have the Greeks and the Romans. Stories make religions, nations, civilizations and companies(Steve jobs and apple, bill Gates and microsoft). This is very human. Those who reject the phoenicians myth have political and economic reasons and are inherently opposed to Lebanon as a country.

Now cheikh Saad al-Haribi Telteyn al-Marajil and his al-Qaeda-affiliated MPs lost 18 potential votes costing him 18 round-trip airline tickets from Australia. But then what do you expect from al-Haribi who spends millions on filth instead of spending them on helping his poor constituents stay here and attempt to live decently.

Hi how can I fimd out the names of the people that have died or survived I have a friend who is really worried about a family member

Unfortunately Lebanon has become worst than a Banana Republic because we haven't got Bananas, only banana brains.

phoenix I caution you on that. life is bearable in Lebanon, not perfect or great by any means, but many, not all, want to emigrate because of the dollar, they want to come back to Lebanon and build villas, the same reason why they are jealous of others. it is a sick cycle.

Just goes to show that "stopping the boats" doesn't actually save lives. A better policy would be to: save lives! This could be done by offering asylum and making it easier to receive.

Thanks to useless wars waged by Hizbullah Lebanon is unable to offer a better future for its children. Sad.

Great post.