Online Desk :
At least 39 migrants were killed when two boats sank off the Tunisian coast on Tuesday as they attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Spokesman for Tunisia’s Ministry of Defence Mohamed Zekri said that the coastguard rescued 165 others, and searches for more survivors are still ongoing off the coast of Sfax.
All the dead migrants were from sub-Saharan Africa, he added.
The coastline near the Tunisian port city of Sfax has become a major departure point for people fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East and seeking a better life in Europe.
In December last year, around 20 African migrants were found dead after their boat, which was trying to reach Europe, sank in the Mediterranean Sea. In the same month, at least 120 Europe-bound migrants, including eight women and 28 children, were intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea by Libya’s coast guard.
In November 2020, at least 74 migrants died in a “devastating” shipwreck off the Libyan coast.
