Tunisia: At least 29 migrants drown in three shipwrecks

At least 29 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries have drowned shipwreck Three boats from Tunisia, the coast guard announced on Sunday. Twenty-nine bodies were recovered and the Coast Guard “rescued eleven illegal immigrants from several African nations after their boats capsized” off the coast of Middle Eastern Tunisia, a press release noted in three separate shipwrecks.

19 bodies have been recovered after a boat sank 58 kilometers offshore in Tunisia. Coast Guard patrols found eight bodies and rescued 11 migrants in the coastal town of Mahdia after a boat headed for Italy capsized, while tugboats recovered two more bodies.

Settle in Europe

Dozens of migrants have died in a series of boat accidents and others have gone missing since President Qaiz Said’s February 21 violent speech on illegal immigration. After this speech, a good number of the 21,000 nationals of sub-Saharan Africa officially registered in Tunisia, most of them in irregular conditions, losing their jobs, usually informally and losing their homes overnight. Secret people.

Most African migrants arrive in Tunisia and then try to cross illegally to Europe by sea, with parts of Tunisia’s coast less than 150 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa. The Tunisian National Guard continues to report hundreds of migrants crossing the Tunisian coast in boats en route clandestinely to Italian shores.

“Extremely dangerous” situation

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday called in Brussels for support for Tunisia, which is facing a severe financial crisis, under penalty of “sparking an unprecedented wave of migration” towards Europe. He also confirmed the plan for an Italo-French mission to Tunisia in which the Italian and French foreign ministers will participate.

The head of European diplomacy, Joseph Borrell, warned on March 20 that the situation in Tunisia was “very dangerous” and even mentioned the risk of “collapse” of the state “causing migration towards the European countries of the Union”. Tunis rejected the analysis, calling it “disproportionate.”

(AFP)