Many migrants set out from Tunisia to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa
TUNIS (Reuters) – The bodies of 13 Sudanese migrants have been recovered after a boat sank off the coast of Cheba while 27 others are still missing, a Tunisian judicial official told Reuters on Thursday, in the latest migrant drowning disaster.
Judge Farid Ben Juha, a spokesman for the Sousse and Monastir courts, said the boat was carrying 42 people, all Sudanese, and two were rescued.
The boat sailed from the coast of Sfax on Wednesday, according to the official.
Since last year, Tunisia has faced a record wave of migration and repeated disasters from the sinking of boats of sub-Saharan migrants seeking to sail towards the Italian coast.
Tunisia has replaced Libya as a key springboard for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East in search of a better life in Europe.
Last month, Tunisian authorities announced the loss of about 40 Tunisian migrants after they set off on a boat towards the Italian coast.
Officials say that during the whole of 2023, the Tunisian coast guard recovered nearly 1,000 bodies of drowned migrants off its coast, representing an unprecedented number of victims off the country’s coast.
