One dead, 10 missing as migrant boat sinks off Tunisia

TUNISIA   -   In yet another migrant boat disaster, at least one person died and another ten went missing af­ter a boat crossing the Medi­terranean to Italy sank off Tu­nisia, according to a judicial official said Sunday. Tunisia’s coastguard rescued 11 people from the boat, which set off from the coast off the town of Zarzis, Faouzi Masmoudi, a judge in the city of Sfax, told media. Tunisia has replaced Libya becoming a major point of departure for the migrants entering Europe as the country is witnessing an un­precedented migration crisis as people forced to flee their home country due to poverty and con­flict in Africa and the Middle East. The latest tragedy raises the number of dead and missing off the North African country’s coasts to more than 600 in the first half of 2023, far more than in any previous year. The Tuni­sian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, a human rights group, said on Saturday that the number of dead and miss­ing in boat sinking incidents has reached 608 and the coastguard had foiled attempts to board boats by about 33,000 people from Tunisia’s coasts. Tunisia is under pressure from Europe­an countries to stop large num­bers of people departing from its coasts. But President Kais Saied has said it will not act as a bor­der guard. The incident comes weeks after a migrant dinghy carrying 59 people was on its way to Spain’s Canary Islands sank in the sea. Helena Maleno, head of Spain’s Walking Borders migrants charity wrote on Twit­ter that 39 people had drowned. Alarm Phone, which focuses on supporting rescue operations in trans-Europe said on Twit­ter that 35 people were miss­ing. Earlier, Alarm Phone report­ed the boat was taking on water and three passengers were dead, adding that “we demand im­mediate rescue, do not let them down!” The Spanish maritime rescue service said that a child had died and 24 people were res­cued from the sinking dinghy in a Moroccan-led rescue operation carried out some 88 miles to the southeast of Gran Canaria island. The body of one child was recov­ered by the Spanish maritime rescue service and sent by heli­copter to Gran Canaria, a Spanish coastguard source had said.

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