Italy-bound migrant boat Sinks off Tunisia

14 dead, 54 rescued, says AFP

Padmesh Prabhune

At least 14 Africans died and 54 were rescued when a boat in which they were trying to reach Europe sank off the coast of Tunisia, the Tunisian National Guard said on Thursday, the 16^th March.

Tunisia’s coastguard said in a statement that officers the previous night had intercepted “a group whose boat had sunk, rescuing 54 people of various sub-Saharan African nationalities and recovering 14 bodies”.

According to the report, the 14 bodies were recovered overnight in the Mediterranean Sea off Tunisia’s central Sfax region. The National Guard said the migrants were from sub-Saharan Africa but did not release their nationalities. On the same night, coast guard vessels thwarted 14 other boats carrying a total of 435 migrants attempting a similar journey from the central and southern regions of Tunisia.

People fleeing conflict or poverty routinely take boats from Tunisian shores toward Europe, even though the central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration. The coastline at Sfax in east-central Tunisia has become a major departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East for a shot at a better life in Europe.

Tunisian authorities have stepped up arrests of Africans without residency papers in recent weeks after President Kais Saied lashed out at sub-Saharan migrants. The comments fanned a surge in racist incidents targeting Black Africans in Tunisia. Hundreds of people have drowned off Tunisia in recent months as attempted crossings from Tunisia and Libya to Italy have increased.

Marex Media