Shipwreck off Tunisia’s coast claims 20 migrant employees’ lives, 5 rescued
In Tunisia, a shipwreck off the coast nation’s Mediterranean shoreline has claimed the lives of at the least 20 migrants. The incident is reported to have occurred close to a well-liked level of departure for migrants who try to achieve Europe by boat. The coast guard members who had been dispatched to the sinking boat have recovered the our bodies of 20 folks and rescued 5 folks, Tunisia’s Nationwide Guard mentioned in a press release on Wednesday.
The rescue operation was undertaken 15 miles off the coast north of Sfax. Furthermore, the shoreline is roughly 81 miles from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Tunisia’s efforts to stop deaths at sea
Notably, in its bid to stop deaths at sea and fight smugglers and migrants crossing illegally to southern Europe, Tunisia has strengthened the policing of its borders with help from Europe. Nonetheless, incidents of drownings and corpses being found have occurred recurrently, together with final week when authorities discovered the our bodies of 9 individuals who appeared to have drowned at sea alongside the identical stretch of shoreline.
The iron boats that migrants and smugglers use to try to cross the Mediterranean are sometimes unseaworthy. Although there isn’t any official depend, worldwide teams and Tunisian NGOs consider a whole lot have perished at sea this yr.
What does the UNHCR estimate say?
The United Nations’ refugee company, UNHCR, estimates greater than 1,100 have died or gone lacking within the central Mediterranean off the coasts of Tunisia and Libya. The Tunisian Discussion board for Financial and Social Rights believes between 600 and 700 folks have died or gone lacking off the coast of Tunisia.
Greater than 19,000 migrants have embarked from Tunisia and arrived in Italy this yr, together with many who subsequently utilized for asylum, in line with UNHCR. hat’s far fewer than the greater than 96,000 who made the journey by the identical level in 2023. The bulk who arrived in Italy in 2024 have been from Bangladesh, Tunisia and Syria.
There aren’t any official numbers concerning migrants in Tunisia. Nonetheless, hundreds reside in makeshift camps amongst olive timber close to Sfax’s shoreline.
(With company inputs)
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