12 Tunisian Migrants Dead, 29 Others Rescued as Boat Sinks Off Tunisia

A Red Cross volunteer transfers two migrants to a tent to be attended after disembarking from a Spanish coast guard vessel, in the port of Arguineguin, on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
A Red Cross volunteer transfers two migrants to a tent to be attended after disembarking from a Spanish coast guard vessel, in the port of Arguineguin, on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
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12 Tunisian Migrants Dead, 29 Others Rescued as Boat Sinks Off Tunisia

A Red Cross volunteer transfers two migrants to a tent to be attended after disembarking from a Spanish coast guard vessel, in the port of Arguineguin, on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
A Red Cross volunteer transfers two migrants to a tent to be attended after disembarking from a Spanish coast guard vessel, in the port of Arguineguin, on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Borja Suarez

At least 12 Tunisians were found dead and 29 others were rescued after a migrant boat capsized off the coast of the southeastern island of Djerba on Monday, a judicial official said, according to AFP.

“Twelve bodies were recovered and 29 people were rescued after their boat sank at dawn on Monday,” Medenine court spokesman Fethi Baccouche said, adding that five men and four women were among the dead, and that the cause of the sinking remained unknown.

Baccouche said the search for the missing, the number of whom was not specified, is still underway.

The boat set sail from the island of Djerba, he noted, adding that an investigation has been launched to determine the causes of death.

The Tunisian National Guard said it was alerted by four migrants who swam back ashore.

Most of the migrants were Tunisian nationals, accompanied by two foreign migrants.

Tunisia and neighboring Libya have become key departure points for migrants seeking better lives in Europe, often risking dangerous Mediterranean crossings.

Each year, tens of thousands of people attempt to make the crossing, with Italy — whose Lampedusa island is only 150 km away — often their first port of call.

Last Wednesday, Tunisian authorities announced that the bodies of 13 irregular migrants of African descent had been recovered off the coast of the city of Mahdia in the eastern part of the country.

More than 1,300 people died or disappeared last year in shipwrecks off Tunisia, according to the rights group Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights.

Since January 1 until mid-May, at least 103 makeshift boats have capsized off Tunisia's coast, the country’s interior ministry said.

During the first four months of this year, the ministry said it saved and prevented 21,545 migrants from crossing the sea to Europe, an increase of approximately 22.5% year-on-year.

The International Organization for Migration has said more than 30,309 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in the past decade, including more than 3,000 last year.



Israel Says it Killed a Hezbollah Member in Drone Strike in South Lebanon

A picture taken from the southern Lebanese region of Marjayoun, shows the destruction in Khiam on November 28, 2024, a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)
A picture taken from the southern Lebanese region of Marjayoun, shows the destruction in Khiam on November 28, 2024, a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)
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Israel Says it Killed a Hezbollah Member in Drone Strike in South Lebanon

A picture taken from the southern Lebanese region of Marjayoun, shows the destruction in Khiam on November 28, 2024, a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)
A picture taken from the southern Lebanese region of Marjayoun, shows the destruction in Khiam on November 28, 2024, a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)

An Israeli drone strike hit a car in south Lebanon on Saturday, killing one person who the Israeli military said was a member of Hezbollah.

State-run National News Agency did not give further details about the strike in the village of Bourj el-Mlouk.

The airstrike was the latest in a wave of such attacks since a US-brokered ceasefire went into effect in late November ending the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

The Israeli military said the Hezbollah member who was killed was active in the border village of Kfar Kila.

The strike came a day after Lebanon’s military court sentenced two people to prison terms for giving digital information to Israel.

Four judicial officials told The Associated Press Saturday that one of those sentenced received a 15-year prison term while the other was sentenced to 10 years in jail. A third was set free for lack of evidence against him, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share information with the media.

The officials said the two scanned the cellular telephones network in wide areas of Beirut and its southern suburbs that is home to Hezbollah’s headquarters using sophisticated equipment.

The officials said the two, who were detained last year, also supplied Israel with about 1,500 photographs from Beirut’s southern suburbs.