Tunisia: 40 African migrants dead in shipwreck off coast

Forty migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have been found dead on Tunisia’s coast on 22nd October according to The New Arab and Agencies.

The migrants were found following a shipwreck that sent them into Tunisia’s coastline. In a statement made by the spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Mahdia, Walid Chtabri: “Initial investigations indicate that there were 70 people on board the vessel.” Despite rescuing thirty migrants, forty bodies, including infants, were recovered from the shipwreck.

Tunisia’s coast is approximately 145 kilometres from Lampedusa, an Italian island. As such, the North African country often serves as a key transit country for African migrants attempting to reach Europe by sea. Of the estimated 55,000 migrants that have arrived in Italy since the start of the year, 4,000 departed from Tunisia via boat according to figures from the UN Refugee Agency. Therefore, it is suspected that the sub-Saharan African migrants were simply passing through Tunisia and failed to reach Italy by the sea.

Reaching Italy from North Africa requires transit through the central mediterranean route, deemed particularly dangerous by official bodies such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) who claim 32,803 to be dead or missing since 2014. Last month, migrants had to be rescued off the Tunisian coast by Libyan naval forces.

Furthermore, Tunisia announced a $290m deal with the European Union (EU), of which nearly half the money was designated for tackling irregular migration and preventing boats from leaving Tunisia’s shore. In recent talks between Italy and Tunisia, migration was a big point of interest as the two countries aimed to tighten border policies. Tunisia’s agreements with organisations such as the EU has been met with heavy criticism from activist groups, some describing the country’s migration policies as a “silent genocide”. Alongside this, Tunisia has also tightened its border rules with neighbouring countries such as Libya, making migration more of a challenge on all fronts.

Ultimately, the tragic incident along Tunisia’s coastline reflects the challenges migrants face in leaving Tunisia by sea as the ocean crossings are consistently seen as increasingly fatal and official government bodies attempt to restrict migration. As Tunisia and the EU has continued its strict crack down on migration, there is a reported sense of helplessness as many migrants remain stranded in Tunisia.

The New Arab and Agencies, Maghrebi.org