TRIPOLI, Sept 23 (BBC/AFP): The bodies of 71 migrants have been found after the boat they were travelling in sank off Syria's coast, the health minister has said.
Twenty survivors are being treated in a hospital in the Syrian city of Tartus.
Officials said Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian nationals - including women and children - were believe to be among the 120-150 people who were on board when the boat sank on Thursday.
It is not clear what caused the accident. A rescue attempt is ongoing.
Officials added that the vessel had departed from from Minyeh, a city near the Lebanese port city of Tripoli.
The boat is believed to have been heading to Europe when it sank.
Sitting on Syria's Mediterranean coast, Tartus, where survivors have been transported, is located about 30 miles (50 km) north of the Lebanese port city of Tripoli.
Lebanon hosts an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees, and almost 14,000 from other countries, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It hosts the largest number of refugees per capita in the world.
An AFP report adds: More than 20 Chinese nationals are missing at sea after a boat capsized off the coast of Cambodia, an official said Friday.
The boat carrying 41 Chinese people got into difficulties off Sihanoukville on Thursday, Preah Sihanouk provincial spokesman Kheang Phearom told the news agency, and only 18 of those on board had been rescued.
The once-quiet fishing village of Sihanoukville has been transformed by a Chinese investment boom in recent years, with dozens of casinos opening.
But there have been growing reports of Chinese workers being trafficked or smuggled to work in the city illegally.
Kheang Phearom said police were questioning those they had rescued while the search for the others continued.
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