At least 13 African migrants died today when the boats they were on sank off Tunisia, judicial official Murad Turki told Reuters.
Another 10 migrants are reported missing off the port of Sfax, southeast of Tunis, the official added.
A few weeks ago, on March 20, another 20 refugees died in a shipwreck.
In the southern Mediterranean, Tunisia and Libya are two of the countries from which most migrants and refugees depart, trying to reach Europe to escape wars or poverty.
From the Tunisian coast, 15,671 migrants, including 584 women, were able to reach Italian territory in 2021, compared to 12.883 (including 353 women) in 2020, according to the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, an organization specialized in the migrant crisis.
In total, more than 123,000 migrants and refugees arrived in Italy in 2021, compared to 95.000 in 2020, amid a pandemic, according to the UNHCR.
Nearly 2,000 people were declared missing or drowned in the Mediterranean last year, compared to 1.401 in 2020, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world, the same source stresses. The IOM, part of the UN system, estimates that more than 18,000 refugees and migrants have died or been declared missing on it from 2014 to date.
Source: APE-MPA
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