At least five asylum seekers died and seven others are missing after their Europe-bound boat sank off Tunisia’s Mediterranean coast, a judicial official in the city of Sfax has said.
The boat, carrying “35 people, most of them Tunisians” including women and children, went down “shortly after departing from the coast of Sidi Mansour” near Sfax, said court spokesperson Faouzi Masmoudi.
“Twenty-three people have been rescued,” he added.
The boat sank “less than an hour after departure”, according to the spokesperson.
Last week judicial officials reported the deaths of at least 11 irregular migrants in a shipwreck off Sfax, as the North African country sees a spike in attempted sea crossings.
The eastern Tunisian port city is located about 130 kilometres from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The court has launched an investigation into the latest shipwreck, Masmoudi said, as search operations were underway.
More than 1,800 people have died this year in shipwrecks on the central Mediterranean migration route, more than twice as many as last year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Growing numbers
The Tunisian coastguard says it intercepted 34,290 irregular migrants in the six months to June 20, most from sub-Saharan African countries, compared with 9,217 over the same period in 2022.
The number of people from sub-Saharan African countries trying to make the crossing has spiked since Tunisian President Kais Saied alleged in a February speech that “hordes” of irregular migrants were causing crime and posing a demographic threat to the mainly Arab country.
Many have also fled since hundreds of refugees were arrested or chased into the desert after the deadly stabbing of a Tunisian man in a brawl with migrants in Sfax on July 3.
Tunisians have opted for the sea journeys in growing numbers as the country faces a grinding economic crisis and severe shortages of basic staples.
On Saturday, at least two Tunisians including a baby died when their boat sank soon after leaving the coast in Gabes, south of Sfax, the coastguard said.
A migrant boat sinks off Tunisia, leaving two dead and several missing
Italy says about 95,000 migrants have arrived on its shores since the start of the year, more than double the number for the same period in 2022.
Tunisians are the fourth-largest group among them, behind migrants from the Ivory Coast, Guinea and Egypt.
Mouhamed Borhen Chamtouri, a commander of the coastguard in Sfax, told AFP on Thursday that this month the force had intercepted about 3,000 migrants in just 10 days, 90 percent of whom were from other parts of Africa.
In July, the European Union signed an agreement with Tunisia that provides for $115M in direct European aid to prevent the departure of migrant boats and combat smugglers.
