Migrant boat capsizes off Tunisia coast, one dead

TUNIS: A boat carrying illegal migrants from Tunisia to Italy capsized late on Saturday leaving one person dead, Tunisian authorities said, adding that six other people were missing at sea.

The boat sank off the coast of Thyna near the port of Sfax in the morning, Moez Triaa, a spokesman for Tunisia’s civil protection unit, told AFP. A total of 20 Tunisians were on board the stricken boat, he said.

The Tunisian coast guard rescued 11 migrants after an emergency call from a boat that was filling with water Saturday off the city of Sfax, said coast guard spokesman Lt. Houssameddine Jbabli.

Divers from the Tunisian emergency services retrieved one body and the captain and chief trafficker fled, he said. Six others who had been aboard the boat are missing, Sfax Gov. Anis Oueslati told the national news agency TAP.

The coast guard also rescued 70 people from another boat in poor condition off the Kerkennah Islands, the governor said.

Meanwhile a spokesman for the National Guard told Mosaique FM, a private radio station, that its forces had arrested 223 people this week who tried to cross the Mediterranean illegally to Europe.

The migrants included 94 sub-saharan Africans, the spokesman, Housemeddine Jebabli, said.

Thousands of young Tunisians make the often deadly sea crossing to Europe each year, driven by high unemployment at home.

The North African nation of Tunisia has thwarted 10 smuggling attempts to send migrants across the Mediterranean in the last two days, primarily to nearby Italy, the coast guard spokesman said. The attempts come as European countries start to relax strict lockdowns to prevents the spread of the coronavirus.

According to Europe’s coast guard service Frontex the number of illegal migrants trying to make their way to Europe fell by 85 per cent in April compared to the previous month. Frontex linked the drop to the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier the officials said that Tunisia will reopen places of worship, restaurants and hotels from June 4, more than two months after closing them over the coronavirus pandemic.