27 migrants missing after shipwreck in Tunisian waters

8 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

A total of 27 migrants are missing and could have died after their boat capsized in the waters of the Sfax region of Tunisia, authorities have reported.

The boat left for Italy on Friday with 37 people on board, of which 17 have been rescued, as explained by a spokesman for the Sfax courts, Fauzi Masmudi, quoted by the British BBC.

This Saturday four bodies have been recovered on the beaches of the area after a second shipwreck. In this boat 39 people were traveling, of which 36 have been rescued. Masmudi has highlighted that both boats had been made of tin plates.

Since the beginning of March, at least seven similar shipwrecks have resulted in hundreds of deaths or disappearances. So far this year, more than 14,000 migrants have been intercepted while trying to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia, according to figures from the Tunisian Coast Guard, five times more than in the same period in 2022.