When they made the decision to emigrate by sea with their two young families, Mostafa Misto, Wissam al-Talawi and others, they could not have imagined that death would be right in front of them.
When taxi driver Mustafa Misto left Lebanon, he only dreamed of feeding and educating his children.
Mustafa is one of the victims of a death boat found by Syrian authorities on Thursday after his boat, which departed northern Lebanon, sank with dozens of migrants on board.
In Bab al-Raml, a neighborhood in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, a family mourns their plight after learning that Mustafa drowned with their three children while his wife survived.
“He didn’t even go out on the weekends,” says one of Mustafa’s relatives. His dream was not to adopt another nationality, but to enroll his children in school and feed them.”
So far, at least 77 bodies have been found, and around twenty have been rescued and some are missing.
Mustafa left with his family after paying between $3,000 and $5,000 each to the smugglers, according to one of his relatives. She raised the necessary money after selling her car and borrowing money from her siblings, and her mother sold jewelry.

On the other hand, Wissam al-Talawi got on a boat with his wife and four children, so his family reported his survival, while his two daughters (five and nine years old) died and his wife and two other children remain missing.
The family, according to Wissam’s brother Ahmed, received the bodies of the two girls and buried them at their place of origin in the Akkar region (north).

Wissam is currently being treated at Al-Basel Hospital in Tartus, along with 19 other people rescued from the sea.
“On Thursday, we woke up and didn’t find my brother, who works for a cleaning company,” says Ahmed.
He added that “he could not support his livelihood and educate his children”.