TUNIS:
Twenty-seven migrants, together with ladies and youngsters, died after two boats capsized off central Tunisia, with 83 folks rescued, a civil defence official instructed AFP on Thursday.
The rescued and lifeless passengers, who had been discovered off the Kerkennah Islands off central Tunisia, had been aiming to achieve Europe and had been all from sub-Saharan African nations, stated Zied Sdiri, head of civil defence within the metropolis of Sfax.
Searches had been nonetheless underway for different doable lacking passengers, in line with the Tunisian Nationwide Guard, which oversees the coastguard.
Tunisia is a key departure level for irregular migrants looking for to achieve Europe with Italy, whose island of Lampedusa is barely 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Tunisia, usually their first port of name.
Annually, tens of hundreds of individuals try the perilous Mediterranean crossing, which has seen a spate of current shipwrecks, with the risks exacerbated by dangerous climate.