At least 13 Tunisians missing as boat sinks at sea in new migrant tragedy

At least 13 Tunisians missing as boat sinks at sea in new migrant tragedy The central Mediterranean route is one of the world’s deadliest migration routes. Saturday 22/08/2026 Migrants on a wooden boat collect life jackets in international waters off the coast of Tunisia in the central Mediterranean Sea July 19, 2024. TUNIS At least 13 Tunisians are missing after a migrant boat sank off the Tunisian coast while sailing towards Italy, and two people were rescued, the head of a migrant rights group said on Saturday. The boat set off early on Thursday, Mostafa Abdelkebir, the head of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters. One of the two survivors told rescuers in a local boat they had been stranded at sea for hours after their vessel capsised. The second survivor was in critical condition, said Abdelkebir, whose group monitors migration issues. The majority of migrants involved in shipwrecks usually hails from Sub-Saharan Africa. The number of Tunisians among migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean has steadily fallen. But polls show a majority of the country’s young people, faced with difficult economic conditions, express a desire to emigrate. The central Mediterranean route is one of the world’s deadliest migration routes, used by migrants from Africa and the Middle East seeking to reach Europe, often in overcrowded or unseaworthy boats. Tunisia was once a major departure point for migrants crossing the Mediterranean, but departures have sharply decreased over the past two years amid tighter maritime controls, backed by European funding and modern border-monitoring equipment, particularly from Italy. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and dozens of other human rights and humanitarian groups said in a statement last month that the EU-Tunisia migration deal had fuelled and normalised serious abuses against migrants and asylum seekers in Tunisia. The groups called on the EU to suspend funding for migration and border-control activities involving Tunisian security forces. Tunisia has not commented on the statement but has repeatedly said it is bearing the brunt of a major migration influx. The presence of African migrants in Tunisia’s rural communities has been a source of frictions with local inhabitants complaining of disrupted way of life and loss of revenue.
2026-08-22 08:59:06