The Lebanese army on Saturday rescued 30 out of 60 people who were on board a boat that sank in the waters off Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli, a Lebanese security source told Xinhua, Trend reports.
The army also recovered the bodies of a woman and a child, the source added.
The Lebanese army and the Lebanese Red Cross are still searching for the rest of the people who were on board the boat.
Tripoli Port Director Ahmad Tamer was quoted by the Elnashra news website as saying that people on the boat were attempting to illegally escape from Lebanon to Cyprus.
Lebanon has been suffering from an unprecedented financial crisis, forcing Lebanese nationals and Syrian refugees residing in Lebanon to look for ways to escape the dire living conditions in the country.