54 dead in Tunisian migrant shipwreck; search ongoing

Tunis, June 12

 The demise toll in a migrant shipwreck off Tunisia’s coast has climbed to 54 folks as an increasing number of our bodies are found, and the search is constant.

The boat sank final weekend amid a current spike in efforts to smuggle African migrants to Europe by way of Tunisia in current months.

The sinking has revived considerations in Tunisia about migrants fleeing tensions in neighbouring Libya, regardless of a whole lot of tens of millions of euros in European assist to Libya to cease migrants from leaving.

Tunisian search groups recovered the our bodies of 13 women and men Thursday, in line with the Defense Ministry.

Earlier within the week, the our bodies of two toddlers and 20 adults washed up on the seashores of Kerkennah Island off the Mediterranean coastal metropolis of Sfax, and 19 different our bodies have been discovered floating in close by waters.

Navy models and divers from the civil safety providers are persevering with to go looking the realm for different doable victims, the well being director for the Sfax area, Ali Ayadi, instructed The Associated Press.

Many of the victims have been buried in Sfax on Wednesday, Ayadi mentioned. All the victims are from sub-Saharan Africa, notably Ivory Coast, aside from the Tunisian captain, in line with Tunisian authorities.

The UN refugee company says makes an attempt to go away Tunisia for the Italian coast elevated by greater than 150% from January by way of April in contrast with the identical interval final yr.

Tunisia’s National Guard mentioned final week that 140 migrants have been arrested lately attempting to cross illegally. Most have been sub-Saharan Africans fleeing tensions in neighbouring Libya.

A nongovernmental organisation that works on migration and refugee points, the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, mentioned the most recent deaths are “the inevitable result of restrictive and inhuman migration policies adopted by the European Union which are limited to a security approach to migration issues.”           The EU has despatched a whole lot of tens of millions of euros to Libya, largely channelled by way of UN businesses, to gradual the tide of migrant crossings.

The AP discovered that in a rustic with out a functioning authorities, large sums of European cash have been diverted to intertwined networks of militiamen, traffickers and coast guard members who exploit migrants. —AP