The death toll from Monday’s sinking of a boat off the coast of Tunisia has risen to 25, authorities have confirmed, following the discovery of 15 bodies in the last few hours as part of search and rescue operations.
According to the information gathered by the Tunisian radio station Mosaique FM, among the dead there is a Tunisian citizen, while the rest would be from sub-Saharan African countries. The Ministry of the Interior said on Tuesday that 76 people were rescued after the sinking.
Tunisia has become in recent years one of the main departure points for boats with which migrants from the country and from sub-Saharan Africa try to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports on its website that so far this year more than 570 people have died or have been reported missing while trying to cross the Mediterranean, a figure that in 2022 amounted to about 2,400, the highest since 2017.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
