35 die as Europe-bound boat sinks

AT LEAST 35 migrants have died and 67 others rescued after their boat sank off the Tunisian coast.

The vessel was headed to Europe, along a route increasingly used by human traffickers.

Tunisian officials said they received a distress call late on Saturday night from a ‘fishing boat about to sink’.

The boat was packed with about 180 migrants, around half from Tunisia and the rest from other African countries. Last night rescue efforts were still ongoing to find other survivors and recover bodies. A further nine migrants, including six children, also drowned in a boat accident off Turkey’s Mediterranean coast early yesterday morning.

Traffickers use Tunisia as a launch pad for migrants travelling to Europe as many other routes are now better policed and patrolled. Their most common destination is Sicily, but the journey can be treacherous – with hundreds packed into small boats.

Up to 3,000 people died or disappeared in 2014 in the Mediterranean while migrating to Europe, the International Organization for Migration said. A 2016 deal between Turkey and the EU has reduced the numbers of migrants coming into Greece, via Turkey.