TUNISIA, Tunisia (AP) – Tunisian authorities have recovered the bodies of 20 people believed to have drowned after a ship sank off the country's Mediterranean coast near a popular departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe by boat. Contained.
The country's National Guard said in a statement Wednesday that coast guard personnel sent to the wreck rescued five people and recovered the bodies of 20 others 15 miles (24 kilometers) off the coast north of Sfax. . This coastline is approximately 130 km (81 miles) from Lampedusa, Italy.
The National Guard said it was continuing to search for the missing, but did not say how many people were on board the ship when it left port.
Tunisian authorities, with help from Europe, are stepping up border security to prevent deaths at sea and combat smugglers and migrants illegally entering southern Europe. However, there are regular reports of drownings and bodies washing up on beaches, and last week authorities found nine bodies believed to have drowned in the water along the same coastline.
The iron ships used by migrants and smugglers when attempting to cross the Mediterranean are often unseaworthy. Although there are no official statistics, international organizations and Tunisian NGOs believe that hundreds of people have died at sea this year. The UN refugee agency UNHCR estimates more than 1,100 people are dead or missing off the coasts of Tunisia and Libya in the central Mediterranean. The Tunisian Economic and Social Rights Forum believes between 600 and 700 people are dead or missing off the coast of Tunisia.
According to UNHCR, more than 19,000 migrants have set sail from Tunisia and arrived in Italy this year, including some who have since applied for asylum. This is far fewer than the more than 96,000 people who visited Italy by the same point in 2023. The majority of arrivals in Italy in 2024 were from Bangladesh, Tunisia and Syria.
There are no official figures on Tunisian immigration. But thousands of people are still living in makeshift camps surrounded by olive trees near Sfax's coastline.
