2 bodies recovered and about 12 missing after migrant boat capsized off Tunisian coast

In this July 29, 2021 file photo, a group thought to be migrants from Tunisia aboard precarious wooden boats wait to be assisted by a team of the Spanish NGO Open Arms, around 20 miles southwest from the Italian island of Lampedusa, in Italian SAR zone. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios, File)

TUNIS, Tunisia — A boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of southern Tunisia, killing at least two people and leaving 12 missing, Tunisia’s national guard said Saturday. One survivor was rescued.

Guard spokesperson Houssem Eddine Jebabli told state news agency TAP that authorities recovered two bodies and transferred them to a hospital on the nearby island of Djerba. He told national radio Mosaique FM that about 15 people were believed to be aboard the boat when it took off between the cities of Zarzis and Ben Guerdane.

The boat had set off early Thursday, and a commercial ship found the sole survivor Saturday in a life jacket, Mosaique reported, citing testimony from the survivor.

A helicopter and coast guard boats were then dispatched to the area in search of more survivors, according to an Associated Press photojournalist at the scene. The migrants were believed to be headed toward Italy.

Zarzis has long been a departure point for Tunisians and others from around Africa or beyond attempting to cross the Mediterranean toward Europe.

The city witnessed a similar tragedy in 2022, when a boat carrying 18 people went missing. The incident sparked weeks of protests as families accused authorities of failing to properly search for their relatives and burying some recovered bodies without identifying them or informing their families.

Migrant departures from Tunisia have fallen sharply since the European Union and Tunisia signed a sweeping agreement in 2023. It included EU funding and technical support for Tunisian border control and coast guard training to help Tunisia curb irregular migration and deter human traffickers in the Mediterranean basin. The EU allocated 105 million euros (US$121 million) in migration-related support to Tunisia in 2023 alone.

The decline in migration has not ended dangerous crossings from Tunisia’s southern coast, where families in the south, particularly in Zarzis, have for years searched for relatives who disappeared at sea.

Rights groups have raised concerns about the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in Tunisia since the EU agreement, including reports of collective expulsions, racial violence, arbitrary detention and abuses against Black migrants.

In July, Amnesty International said EU support for border control in Tunisia continued to fuel serious rights violations. It said refugees and asylum seekers were being “deliberately trapped in a system that offers neither protection nor a safe way out.”

Ghaya Ben Mbarek, The Associated Press