Migrant deaths in the Mediterranean: At least 20 migrants died in a shipwreck off the Tunisian coast

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The Coast Guard rescued five people and was looking for about 20 others who were still missing, the official said.

“The boat sank about ten kilometers off the coast of Sfax. Twenty bodies were recovered, five others were rescued, and all are from sub-Saharan Africa,” said security officer Ali Ayari.

About 45 people were on the boat when it sank, he added.

The coastline at the Tunisian port city of Sfax has become an important starting point for people fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East and looking for a better life in Europe.

Countries like Italy and Malta have seen an increase in sea arrivals this year from Tunisia – where high unemployment and precarious socio-economic conditions have triggered migration – and from Libya, where conflict and war were a major factor, according to figures from the United States. Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The plight of migrants is exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
But the European reactions were often brutal. Humanitarian organizations say border pushbacks in countries like Greece, the lack of sea rescues in the Mediterranean and unhealthy quarantine measures for the coronavirus have posed enormous challenges.

Thursday’s deaths add to the already long list recorded this year, even with Covid-19 travel restrictions.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 1,111 migrants died in the Mediterranean by 2020.
Last month, at least 74 migrants died in a shipwreck off the coast of Khums, Libya, with children among the dead.
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According to the IOM, the boat would transport more than 120 people, including women and children.

And in October, at least 140 migrants drowned off the coast of Senegal in what the IOM described as this year’s deadliest shipwreck.
In a November statement, Federico Soda, IOM Libya Head of Mission, said that “the increasing loss of life in the Mediterranean is a manifestation of states’ inability to take decisive action to provide much-needed, dedicated search and rescue capabilities. to redeploy in the deadliest sea. crossing in the world. “

Soda called for a change in the “unworkable approach to Libya and the Mediterranean, including ending returns to the country and establishing a clear disembarkation mechanism followed by solidarity from other states.”

“Thousands of vulnerable people continue to pay the price for inactivity, both at sea and on land,” he said.

Migration-related deaths are often under-reported and unrecorded, according to the IOM, which also said the pandemic has made it more difficult to collect that data.

CNN’s Emma Reynolds and Sharon Braithwaite contributed to this report.

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