Two Boats Sink Off Tunisia: 29 African Migrants Killed

Illustration of the sinking boat. (Unsplash/Joel Durkee)

JAKARTA - At least 29 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were killed when two boats carrying them sank off the coast of Tunisia while trying to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, Tunisian coast guard said on Sunday.

Separately, in the past four days, five migrant boats sank off the coast of Sfax City in the south, leaving 67 people missing and nine dead, following a significant increase in the number of boats heading to Italy.

Tunisia is known to have 'taken over' Libya's position as the main departure point for people fleeing Africa and the Middle East, in hopes of getting a better life in Europe.

Houssem Jebabli, a senior official at the national guard told Reuters the Tunisian coast guard had also rescued 11 people off the coast of Mahdia, further north, as quoted March 27.

Furthermore, the coast guard said they had stopped about 80 ships bound for Italy in the past four days and detained more than 3,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan African countries.

The latest death toll comes amid a campaign of arrest by Tunisian authorities against undocumented sub-Saharan Africans.

According to UN data, at least 12,000 migrants who reached Italy this year sailed from Tunisia, compared to 1,300 people in the same period in 2022.

Meanwhile, according to Tunisian Forum statistics for Social and Economic Rights, Tunisian coast guard prevented more than 14,000 migrants from departing by boat during the first three months of this year, compared to 2,900 in the same period last year.

Last Thursday, Italy's coast guard said it had saved about 750 migrants in two operations off the coast of southern Italy.

One day later, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Europe was at risk of seeing a large influx of migrants arriving on its beaches from North Africa, if financial stability in Tunisia was not maintained.

Regarding that, PM Meloni asked the IMF and several countries to help Tunisia quickly to avoid its collapse.