The coast guard in Tunisia announced today that they found the bodies of 12 migrants, among them three children, in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Tunisia.
The bodies were found after a boat carrying more than 50 people, mostly Tunisians, sank near the island of Djerba, a coastguard spokesman said.
The survivors, 29 of them, were safely pulled ashore while emergency services continued to search for the missing. The Coast Guard did not give a reason for the sinking of the ship, which happened shortly after setting sail this morning.
Tunisia, along with neighboring Libya, is the main departure point for migrants heading to Europe, with thousands arriving each year by boat to the Italian island of Lampedusa, which is closer to North Africa than the Italian mainland, including many whose journeys are organized by people smugglers.
Tens of thousands of people even from Bangladesh try to cross the Mediterranean Sea every year to reach the shores of Spain, Italy, Malta and Greece. Many are fleeing poverty, war, climate change or various persecutions.
Recently, Tunisia strengthened the control of its territorial waters with the help of European funds and aid, which led to a decrease in the number of migrant crossings, but also more deaths.
Tunisia's National Guard said in June that authorities had found the bodies of 462 migrants and intercepted more than 30.000 migrants off the coast of Tunisia between January and May. And in the same period last year, 714 bodies were found, and almost 22.000 migrants were intercepted.
As the number of migrants reaching Europe falls, the number stuck in transit along the Tunisian coast has risen. Thousands of people hoping to board a boat to Europe are living in camps on the outskirts of Tunisian cities and towns, where tensions have risen between migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, Tunisians and security forces.
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