At least 13 Tunisians missing after migrant boat sinks off Tunisia

By Tarek Amara

TUNIS, Aug 22 (Reuters) - ‌At least 13 ​Tunisians ​are missing after a migrant boat sank off the Tunisian coast while sailing towards Italy and two people have been rescued, the ‌head of a migrant rights group said on Saturday.

The boat, which set ⁠off early on Thursday, was carrying mostly young people, including seven members of the same family, ‌as well as a man ‌and his pregnant wife, Mostafa Abdelkebir, the head of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters.

The central Mediterranean route from the North African coast ​is one of the world's deadliest migration routes, used by migrants from Africa and the Middle East seeking to reach Europe, often in overcrowded or unseaworthy ⁠boats.

One of the two survivors told rescuers they had been stranded at sea for hours after their vessel ​capsized. The second survivor was in critical condition, said Abdelkebir, whose group monitors migration issues.

National Guard spokesperson Houssem Eddine Jebabli said ​coastguard units, backed by an aircraft and naval ‌units, were conducting search operations for the missing migrants.

Abdelkebir said four bodies had been recovered, but it could not be confirmed ⁠whether they were migrants from the same boat.

Tunisia was once a major departure point for migrants crossing the Mediterranean, but departures have fallen sharply over the past two years amid ⁠a crackdown and tighter maritime controls, backed by European funding and modern border-monitoring equipment, particularly ​from Italy.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and dozens of other human rights and humanitarian groups said in a statement last month that the EU-Tunisia migration deal had fuelled and normalised serious ‌abuses against migrants and asylum seekers in Tunisia.

The groups called on the EU to suspend funding for migration and border-control activities ‌involving Tunisian security forces.

Tunisia has not commented on the statement but has repeatedly said ⁠it is bearing the brunt of ‌a major migration influx. ​President Kais Saied said in 2023 that the influx was aimed at changing the country's demographic makeup.

(Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by ‌William Mallard)

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