At least 43 migrants drown in shipwreck off Tunisia, humanitarian group says

Tunisian Red Crescent says navy officials rescued 84 people attempting Mediterranean crossing

A group of migrants arrive at a port in southern Tunisia after being rescued during an attempted crossing of the Mediterrean on 27 June 2021 (AFP via Getty Images)

At least 43 migrants have drowned in a shipwreck off Tunisia as they attempted to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy, the Tunisian Red Crescent has said.

The humanitarian organisation said on Saturday that the boat involved had set off from Zuwara, on Libya’s northwest coast, carrying migrants from Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Bangladesh.

“The navy rescued 84 migrants and 43 others drowned in a boat that set off from Libya's Zuwara towards Europe,” Mongi Slim, a Red Crescent official, told Reuters.

Several drowning incidents have occurred off the Tunisian coast in recent months, with an increase in the frequency of attempted crossings to Europe and Tunisia and Libya towards Italy.

Hundreds of thousands of people have attempted to make the perilous crossing through the Mediterranean in recent years, with many migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.

Italy has been one of the main migrant routes into Europe and the number of arrivals to the country has risen in 2021 after falling in recent years.

Figures from Italy’s Interior Ministry show that almost 19,800 migrants have arrived since the beginning of the year compared to just over 6,700 in the same period last year.

In May, Tunisian authorities reported that more than 50 migrants had drowned off the country’s coast, while 33 others were rescued by workers from an oil platform.

At the time, the country’s defence ministry spokesperson Mohamed Zekri said that a boat carrying the migrants had sunk off the southeast coast and navy units were sent to search for missing passengers.

The 33 survivors were all reportedly from Bangladesh, according to a spokesperson for the International Organisation for Migration.

Additional reporting by agencies