Deaths of Mediterranean migrants: at least 20 migrants killed in a shipwreck off the Tunisian coast

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The Coast Guard rescued five people and was searching for about 20 people who were not yet identified, the official said.

“The ship sank about six miles off the coast of Sfax. Twenty bodies were recovered, another five were rescued and all came from sub-Saharan Africa,” said security chief Ali Ayari.

He added that about 45 people were on the boat when it sank.

The coastline near the port city of Sfax has become an important starting point for people fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East and seeking a better life in Europe.

Countries such as Italy and Malta have seen an increase in maritime arrivals from Tunisia this year – where high unemployment and uncertain socio-economic conditions have motivated migration – and Libya, where conflict and war were a major factor, according to data United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The situation of migrants has worsened with the coronavirus pandemic.
But European responses have often been brutal. Humanitarian organizations claim that setbacks on the borders of countries such as Greece, the absence of maritime rescue in the Mediterranean and unhealthy coronavirus quarantine mechanisms have created enormous challenges.

Thursday’s deaths add to the already long list recorded this year, even with travel restrictions on the Covid-19.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 1,111 migrants died in the Mediterranean in 2020.
Last month, at least 74 migrants died in a shipwreck off the coast of Khums, Libya, with children among the dead.
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According to IOM, the ship was reported to be carrying more than 120 people, including women and children.

And in October, at least 140 migrants drowned off the coast of Senegal in what IOM described as the deadliest shipwreck this year.
In a November statement, IOM Libyan Head of Mission Federico Soda said the “growing loss of life in the Mediterranean is a manifestation of the inability of states to take decisive action to resettle the necessary and dedicated capacity. search and rescue in the deadliest sea. crossing the world “.

Soda called for a change in the “unfeasible approach of Libya and the Mediterranean, which includes ending returns to the country and establishing a clear landing mechanism followed by the solidarity of other states.”

“Thousands of vulnerable people continue to pay the price of inaction both at sea and on land,” he said.

According to IOM, migration-related deaths are often unrecorded and unrecorded, which also said the pandemic has made it difficult to collect this data.

CNN’s Emma Reynolds and Sharon Braithwaite contributed to this report.

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