Seven migrants, including women and children, were killed when two boats crashed off the coast of Tunisia, specifically Gabes and Sfax, shortly after they set off while trying to reach Italy. While 13 people were reported missing.
A boat carrying 20 migrants, including an eight-month-old baby, set off from the Tunisian coast of Gabes on Friday night (August 12th). It wasn’t long before the passengers saw a fishing vessel they thought belonged to the Tunisian National Guard. They immediately tried to turn around and turn back, maneuvering quickly, and the boat overturned and sank about 120 meters from the coast of the city.
13 immigrants on board survived. Five were missing, and two were killed, the infant and a 20-year-old. This was reported by the National Guard and reported by the official radio station, adding that the search for the missing persons will continue and an investigation will be opened into the incident.
Two days later, today, August 14, another boat capsized off the coast of Sfax, carrying 35 migrants, most of them Tunisians, including women and children, killing five passengers, including “a child and two women,” and eight migrants missing. According to the official spokesman for the Sfax court, Fawzi Al-Masmoudi.
Five immigrants, including a child and two women, were killed
Spend more than 1,800 immigrants
Migrant boats are increasingly capsized off the coast of Tunisia and before they reach their destination, which is mostly the Italian island of Lampedusa, due to the smugglers’ use of fragile metal boats, the overcrowding of these boats, and, in some cases, the efforts of groups to piracy the engines of those boats after their launch.
On Wednesday, August 9, a migrant boat sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa, claiming the lives of 41 migrants, according to the testimonies of four survivors. At least 30 migrants went missing off the coast of the island two days earlier, Sunday, August 6th.
More >>>> The sea dumps the bodies of 10 migrants on the shores of Sfax
More than 1,800 migrants have died in the central Mediterranean since the beginning of the year, according to the International Organization for Migration. Meanwhile, more than 96,300 immigrants arrived in Italy via that route. While the Tunisian Coast Guard reported that it intercepted 34,300 immigrants from the beginning of the year until the end of June.
Most immigrant boats depart from the coasts of Mahdia, Gabes and Sfax, and most immigrants come from sub-Saharan African countries, and Tunisia constitutes the fourth nationality in the number of arrivals to Italy.
On Saturday, August 12, 718 migrants arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa on board 27 boats. The Italian Coast Guard intercepted six boats carrying 270 migrants on Sunday, August 13, according to the German news agency, while the Associated Press said that the number of arrivals on Sunday was about 400 migrants.
Crackdown on immigrants in Tunisia
Tunisia has witnessed political tension since President Kais Saied seized all powers on July 25, 2021. Attacks on migrants coming from sub-Saharan Africa to Tunisia increased after its president’s speech on February 21, and his call for an end to “hordes of irregular migrants from Sub-Saharan Africans, who “flowed into Tunisia,” indicating that it is a situation that leads to violence, crime and unacceptable practices and is part of a criminal arrangement aimed at changing the demographic composition.
More >>>> The lives of African immigrants… A heavy price for Tunisia and Libya’s evasion of responsibility
A campaign to target migrants in Tunisia began following the president’s speech, which was denounced by several international organizations. After that, an immigrant from Benin was stabbed to death in an attack carried out by a group of Tunisian youths in a popular neighborhood of Sfax, at the end of May.
Tensions escalated after clashes between immigrants and Tunisians at the beginning of July resulted in the death of a Tunisian citizen with a “sharp tool”. After that, the Tunisian authorities initiated a massive expulsion campaign for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, who came irregularly, including regular ones, according to the testimonies of migrants, to desert areas on the borders with Libya in the east and Algeria in the west, according to several organizations, adding that 27 people died in the desert on the border. Libyan Tunisian and 73 others are missing.
#migrants #including #baby #killed #boats #crashed #coast #Tunisia
2023-08-14 16:12:24
