According to a judicial official on Sunday, July 9, about 10 Tunisian migrants have been reported missing, with one confirmed death, after their boat sank off Tunisia after attempting to cross the Mediterranean into Italy.
This is as the Tunisian government is facing an unrivalled migration problem, and has now superseded Libya as the main departure point for people fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and in the Middle East for the hope of better living conditions in Europe.
This recent tragedy has increased the number of dead and missing persons off the North African country’s coasts to over 600 persons, for just the first half of 2023. This number has exceeded the records of previous years according to Reuters.
Tunisia’s coastguard had saved 11 persons from the boat, which had set off from the coast off the town of Zarzis.
On Saturday, July 8, the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, a human rights group, had announced that the number of persons missing in boat sinkings was totalled at 608 and the coastguard had also thwarted attempts to board boats by about 33,000 people from Tunisia’s coasts.
Tunisia has been under pressure from Europe to bar large numbers of people from departing from its coasts. But President Kais Saied, the Tunisian President has remarked that the country will not act as a border guard.
