(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – At least 41 migrants died after their boat sank off the Tunisian coast, the UN said on Friday. Three people were rescued.
The boat sank off the coastal city of Sfax on Thursday evening, the International Organisation for Migration and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said.
Initially, coastguard officials said 20 migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa had drowned.
A spokesman for the local coastguard, Ali al-Ayari, told dpa the bodies of 10 men, nine women and a baby had been recovered.
The Tunisian coast has become a common launching point for thousands of migrants seeking a better life in Europe.
At least 39 migrants from two boats died last month and at least 60 died in June last year in boats that sank off the coast of Sfax.
African Migrant Shipwreck off Tunisia Leaves at Least 20 Dead
24 Dec 2020
ROME At least 20 African migrants drowned Thursday when a dinghy carrying about 45 people sank off the coast of Tunisia.
The small boat was attempting to cross the Strait of Sicily on Christmas Eve day to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa, a common point of arrival for African migrants attempting to enter Europe, according to Mohamed Zekri, spokesman for the Tunisian Defense Ministry.
The Tunisian Coast Guard rescued five people who are in serious condition and was still searching for about 20 more who were still unaccounted for. A Coast Guard spokesman in Sfax, Ali al-Ayari, confirmed the migrants were all from sub-Saharan Africa.