At least 43 migrants have drowned in a shipwreck off Tunisia as they attempted to cross the Mediterranean sea.
Another 84 were rescued from the water after their boat sank on the perilous journey from Libya to Italy.
The Tunisian Red Crescent had set off from Zuwara, on Libya’s northwest coast, carrying migrants from Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Bangladesh, the humanitarian organisation said.
The vessel capsized after its engine broke down, according to the BBC.
“The navy rescued 84 migrants and 43 others drowned in a boat that set off from Libya’s Zuwara towards Europe,” Red
Crescent official Mongi Slim said on Saturday.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The Tunisian Red Crescent gave the survivors food and drink while looking for space to house them during their required Covid quarantine period, local media reported.
In recent months, several drowning incidents have occurred off the Tunisian coast as the improving weather brings an increase in the frequency of attempted crossings to Europe from Tunisia and Libya towards Italy.
Hundreds of thousands of people have made the dangerous Mediterranean crossing in recent years, many of them fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.
Arrivals in Italy – one of the main migrant routes into Europe – had been falling in recent years, but numbers picked up
again in 2021.
Almost 19,800 migrants have arrived since the beginning of the year compared to just over 6,700 in the same period last year, Italian interior Ministry figures showed.
Tunisia has been calling for the European Union to deal with the ongoing migrant crisis by helping to fight poverty in Africa.