At least 13 Tunisians are missing after a migrant boat heading for Italy capsized off the Tunisian coast. Two people were rescued, one of them in critical condition.
Danish broadcaster DR reports that the vessel sank off Tunisia while sailing toward Italy. The account comes from Mostafa Abdelkebir, head of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights, who spoke to the news agency Reuters.
According to the observatory, two people were pulled from the water. One of the two survivors is in critical condition. The number of missing stands at a minimum of 13, all of them Tunisian nationals.
Reuters adds that the boat set off early on Thursday. One survivor said the group had been stranded at sea for hours after the vessel overturned, as reported by the agency. Reuters named the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights as the source of the casualty report.
The same report was carried by other outlets, including Arab News Centre and Deccan Herald. Both repeated the figures of 13 missing and two rescued, and the route toward Italy. No official Tunisian statement on the sinking has been issued.
Fewer departures from Tunisia
Tunisia was long a common departure point for migrants crossing the Mediterranean, DR notes. Over the past two years, the number of departures has fallen sharply. The Danish news agency Ritzau attributes the decline to political efforts and tighter controls at sea.
That effort has been funded with European money and supported by modern border surveillance equipment, particularly from Italy, per the same reporting. DR describes this as background to the current situation rather than a cause of the sinking.
In July, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and a number of other human rights and relief organizations issued a joint statement on the situation in Tunisia. The groups said the European Union’s migration agreement with Tunisia has helped promote and normalize serious abuses against migrants and asylum seekers, according to DR.
Tunisian authorities have not commented on that statement. The country has repeatedly said that it carries the main burden of what it describes as a large influx of migrants, as reported by DR.
Reuters said the boat left early on Thursday and that the sinking was reported on Saturday. That timeline points to a recent incident rather than a delayed disclosure. Search and recovery details for the 13 missing had not been made public at the time of reporting.
