TUNIS: Forty migrants from Africa were found dead on Wednesday following a shipwreck off Tunisia while 30 were rescued, a judicial spokesman told AFP.
“Initial investigations indicate that there were 70 people on board the vessel,” said Walid Chtabri, spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Mahdia.
“Forty bodies, including infants, were recovered, and 30 people were rescued,” Chtabri added.
Tunisia, whose coast is some 145 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa, is a key transit country for thousands of African migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea each year.
Over 55,000 irregular migrants have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, according to the UN Refugee Agency’s latest figures.
