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THIRTY-NINE African refugees, including several children, died on Tuesday off the Tunisian coast after a boat carrying 93 people sank, authorities have confirmed.
Their bodies were recovered by relief units in the waters off the Mediterranean port city of Sfax in southern Tunisia, National Guard spokesman Houssameddine Jebabli said.
A second boat also ran aground in the same area. Navy and coastguard teams and volunteer fishing boats found 39 bodies and rescued a total of 165 people from both vessels, according to a statement from the Tunisian defence ministry on Tuesday evening.
Most passengers were from sub-Saharan African countries and were en route to Italy, Mr Jebabli said.
Between January 1 and February 21, 3,800 migrants arrived in Italy by sea, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Nearly 1,000 came via Tunisia and 2,500 via neighbouring Libya.
Some 12,000 Tunisians, the largest national contingent, came to Italy in 2020, the UNHCR says.
