- Tragedy at sea: 10 Tunisian migrants missing, 1 dead
- Tunisia faces unprecedented migration crisis
- Calls to address the growing death toll and migration challenges
A judicial official reported on Sunday that at least ten Tunisian migrants were missing and one perished after their boat sank off the coast of Tunisia while attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Italy.
Tunisia is now the main departure point for African and Middle Eastern migrants seeking a better life in Europe.
According to statistics compiled by Reuters, the latest catastrophe brings the number of dead and missing off the coasts of the North African nation to over 600 in the first half of 2023, far more than in any previous year.
Sfax Judge Faouzi Masmoudi told Reuters that the Tunisian coastguard rescued eleven persons from a boat that left Zarzis.
The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, a human rights organization, reported on Saturday that the number of deceased and missing from boat sinkings has reached 608 and that the coastguard has thwarted approximately 33,000 attempts by Tunisian citizens to board boats.
European nations exert pressure on Tunisia to halt the departure of large numbers of migrants from its coasts. However, President Kais Saied has stated that it will not serve as a border patrol.
Many black migrants in Tunisia have been rendered homeless by a wave of racist violence since Saied accused them of causing a crime wave and being part of a “criminal plot” to alter the country’s demographic composition earlier this year.
Less than 0.2% of the population of the North African nation is comprised of undocumented migrants from other African nations.
Hundreds, including children and pregnant women, were left destitute in the winter cold. And many registered for repatriation with their embassies, primarily to West African nations.
Others have tried to reach Europe in unseaworthy boats from Tunisia, 130 km from Lampedusa, an Italian island.
Rome reported in February that more than 32,000 migrants, including 18,000 Tunisians, arrived in Italy from Tunisia the previous year. While thousands more left neighboring Libya.
