At least 10 people
died and more than 30 are still missing after a boat carrying migrants sank off
the coast of Tunisia, officials said on Wednesday.
Tunisian coast guard
rescued 76 migrants from the same shipwreck, the national guard official
Houssem Eddin Jebabli said.
Faouzi Masmoudi, a
judge from the city of Sfax, told Reuters that up to 30 people were still
missing.
The past month has
seen a sharp increase in migrant boats trying to reach the Italian coast from
Tunisia, leading to a spike in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nineteen-african-migrants-die-when-boat-sinks-off-tunisia-group-2023-03-26/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>drowning
accidents as vessels are often rickety and overcrowded with unreliable
engines. In March at least 52 migrants died and 70 went missing in similar
disasters.
The National Guard
said this month that more than 14,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa,
were intercepted or rescued in the first three months of the year while trying
to cross to Europe, five times more than figures recorded in the same period last
year.
The sharp increase is
partly due to Tunisia taking over from Libya as a main departure point for
people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East in the hope
of a better life in Europe.
Crackdowns on human
trafficking in Libya in recents months have made Tunisia a more accessible
option.
