12 Tunisians dead as boat capsizes off Djerba: judiciary

At least 12 Tunisians including three children were found dead after a migrant boat capsized off the coast of the southeastern island of Djerba on Monday, a judicial official said.

The boat went down at dawn and 29 people were rescued, Medenine court spokesman Fethi Baccouche told AFP, adding five men and four women were among the dead, and that the cause of the sinking remained unknown.

The Tunisian National Guard said it was alerted by four migrants who swam back ashore.

Boat had 60 passengers on board

Radio Tataouine said the boat had about 60 passengers on board. It remained unclear how many were still missing.

Tunisian media outlets said the migrants had set sail from the peninsula of Ras Rmel Hachana in northern Djerba and were heading to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

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Tunisia and neighbouring Libya have become key departure points for migrants seeking better lives in Europe, often risking dangerous Mediterranean crossings.

The exodus is fuelled by Tunisia’s stagnant economy, with only 0.4 percent of growth in 2023 and unemployment soaring.

The North African country has also been shaken by political tensions, after President Kais Saied orchestrated a sweeping power grab in July 2021.

Tunisia political tensions

Each year, tens of thousands of people attempt to make the crossing, with Italy — whose Lampedusa island is only 150 kilometres (90 miles) away — often their first port of call.

Since January 1, Tunisian rights group FTDES recorded at least 400 migrant deaths and disappearances in shipwrecks off Tunisia with more than 1,300 people dead or disappeared last year.

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The International Organization for Migration has said more than 30,309 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in the past decade, including more than 3,000 last year.

In the summer of 2023, the European Union and Tunisia signed a “strategic partnership” agreement with an aid of 105 million euros for the North African country in return of its curbing irregular immigration.

Since the beginning of the year, Tunisia has “prevented the departure of more than 61,000 migrants who wanted to reach European shores”, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi recently posted on X.

Country prevented departure of more than 61 000 migrants

The figure “testifies to the constant commitment of the countries of origin and transit of migrants to combat irregular immigration,” his post read.

Tunisia’s approach “is not one of rescue but of interception”, FTDES spokesman Romdhane Ben Amor recently told AFP.

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“The EU has given all the financial, logistical and technical means” to Tunisia to implement the policy, he said.

– By: © Agence France-Presse