Tel Aviv, Israel

A rubber boat washed ashore on an Israeli beach on Sunday (Oct 1) near the city of Netanya. Instead of migrants, the boat was filled with personal belongings, food, water, and travel documents, including three from Somalia, media reports said. Israeli authorities made this discovery along the Mediterranean coast. Local police initiated a search in the nearby waters, hoping to find any survivors.

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“The police, in cooperation with the maritime police officers, began a search a short time ago upon receiving a report from municipal officials about a rubber boat that washed ashore in the city – when there were no people in the boat, but a lot of personal equipment and documents were found in it,” the police reportedly said.

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They also released a photograph of the boat, which revealed scattered items, such as clothing, an air pump, and makeshift inflatable lifebuoys strewn across the boat's floor.

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The investigation into the travel documents is ongoing, reported Reuters.

Migrant crisis in Mediterranean

According to the United Nations' International Organisation for Migration, over 187,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean this year, with a tragic 2,093 deaths reported along the central Mediterranean route.

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During the recently held UN Security Council, Ruven Menikdiwela, the director of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, highlighted the alarming surge in the number of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa making their way by land to the shores of Libya and Tunisia in 2023.

Many migrants embark on this perilous journey in small, unstable boats, often originating from African countries. 

A senior police reportedly voiced concerns about the boat's arrival, saying that it represented a significant security lapse. He pointed out the potential risk, suggesting that the boat could have been carrying terrorists.

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“Where is the navy? They should have detected it,” he said. This incident follows a tragic incident in June when a fishing boat carrying migrants capsized and sank off the coast of Greece, resulting in at least 78 confirmed deaths and leaving many others feared missing. It was one of the deadliest disasters of its kind in recent times.

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