14 die, 54 saved in migrant boat disaster off Tunisia
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Hashim Sheikh
- . March 10, 2023
- . Update: March 10, 2023 7:05 pm
According to the Tunisian National Guard, a boat carrying African migrants seeking to reach Europe capsized off the coast of Tunisia on Thursday, killing at least 14 of them while saving 54 others.
According to Houssameddine Jbabli, a spokesman for the National Guard, the 14 bodies were found overnight in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of downtown Sfax, Tunisia. The National Guard did not disclose the migrants’ nationalities, only that they were from sub-Saharan Africa.
14 additional boats carrying a total of 435 migrants that were trying a similar voyage from the central and southern parts of Tunisia were stopped that same night by coast guard vessels, according to Jbabli.
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Despite the fact that the central Mediterranean is the most perilous migrant route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration, people frequently board boats off the coast of Tunisia and travel toward Europe. The majority of those taking the risky trek are from sub-Saharan Africa, but there are also Tunisians and people of other nationalities.
As President Kais Saied lashed out at sub-Saharan migrants, Tunisian police have increased the arrests of Africans without residency documents. The remarks sparked an increase in racial incidents in Tunisia that targeted Black Africans.
