Migrants: shipwreck off Tunisia leaves at least 43 missing

Published on : 07/03/2021 – 15:23

A boat carrying migrants sank off the Tunisia, leaving at least 43 missing, announced Saturday (July 3) an official of the Tunisian Red Crescent. The ship had left the Libyan coast a little earlier, according to testimonies from survivors collected by the humanitarian organization.

“84 migrants were rescued and 43 others disappeared after a boat carrying 127 migrants sank off Zarzis,” a town in south-eastern Tunisia, on the night of Friday to Saturday, told AFP the director of the Red Crescent branch in Medenine (south-east), Mongi Slim.

For its part, the Tunisian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday in a statement that the Navy had rescued, on the night from Friday to Saturday, “84 illegal immigrants of different nationalities”, citing Bangladesh, Sudan, ‘Eritrea, Egypt and Chad.

However, the ministry did not specify the number of missing.

The survivors, aged 3 to 40, were on board a boat that sank off Zarzis, he added.

According to testimonies from survivors, the boat had left the coast of Zouara, in the north-west of Libya, “on the night of June 28 to 29”, with the aim of reaching Europe.

With AFP