Eleven migrants killed, 23 rescued after boat capsized off Tunisia
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- Web Desk
- Aug 15, 2023
SFAX (Reuters): Eleven migrants died and seven others were missing while 23 were rescued after a boat capsized off Tunisia’s Sfax, state news agency (TAP) reported on Monday.
Tunisia migrant shipwreck toll rises to 11 with 42 missing
“Sfax coastguard units rescued 23 people and recovered 11 bodies of migrants whose boat sank off the coast of Sidi Mansour in Sfax on Monday morning.
The boat was carrying mostly Tunisians, but also a number of sub-Saharan Africans”, it added.
From January 1 to July 20 this year the Tunisian coast guard recovered 901 bodies of drowned migrants off its coast, an unprecedented number.
The North African country is facing a record wave of migration this year and frequent catastrophes involving boats heading to the Italian coast.
Tunisia has replaced Libya as the region’s main departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East in hopes of a better life in Europe.
