Two Tunisian immigrants have died and five others are missing after a shipwreck on the night of Friday to Saturday, off the coast of Gabès, in southeastern Tunisia, the country’s national guard has declared.
The sinking of a “boat with 20 Tunisians occurred at 02:00 local time (the same in Lisbon), 120 meters from the beach,” the National Guard said in a statement, noting that 13 people were rescued alive and the searches continue. to find other survivors.
The National Guard also said that “two bodies were recovered, of a boy around 20 years of age and another of a baby” of unknown age.
“An investigation was opened by the court” of Gabès to “perform the expert opinion” of the bodies and “determine the circumstances of the tragedy,” according to the press release.
More than 1,800 people, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), have died since January in shipwrecks in the central Mediterranean (between North Africa and Italy), the deadliest migration route in the world, more than double that year past . .
The last known shipwreck off the coast of Tunisia left 11 dead and 44 missing in the port of Sfax (central east), judicial sources announced last Monday.
This year, the Tunisian city of Sfax is the epicenter of attempts to cross the Mediterranean from the Tunisian coast, located, at its closest point, less than 130 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Source: TSF
