10 Syrians freeze to death fleeing to Lebanon
CGTN
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The bodies of nine Syrians were found Friday near Lebanon’s border with Syria after they apparently froze to death in a severe snowstorm while trying to flee their war-torn country, the Lebanese army said in a statement.
"An army patrol found the bodies of nine refugees who died as a result of the snowstorm. It rescued six others, one of whom died in the hospital as a result of frostbite," it said.
In a statement, the army said it had received a tip Friday morning that a group of Syrian refugees had got stuck in snow while trying to cross the mountainous frontier between the two countries.
A Syrian refugee family sits at the entrance of their tent at an unofficial refugee camp in the village of Deir Zannoun in Lebanon's Bekaa valley on January ‍31, 2017. /VCG Photo

A Syrian refugee family sits at the entrance of their tent at an unofficial refugee camp in the village of Deir Zannoun in Lebanon's Bekaa valley on January ‍31, 2017. /VCG Photo

The group was found near the Masnaa border crossing. Among the dead were two children, six women and two men, according to Lebanese civil defense operations manager Georges Abou Moussa.
The army also said it had arrested two Syrians on smuggling charges and was still searching for others lost in the snow.
Lebanon and Syria share a 330-kilometer border. For several years after Syria's uprising began, refugees flowed into Lebanon. But Lebanese authorities introduced new restrictions in 2015 in order to curb the number of Syrians entering the country.
Lebanon took in around 1.5 million Syrian refugees at the height of Syria's conflict, now in its seventh year.
6957km
Source(s): AFP ,Reuters