41 Dead in Migrant Shipwreck According to 4 Survivors Who Set Off from Tunisia 

Migrants of African origin are escorted by Tunisian coast guards upon their arrival in Sfax aboard a military boat on August 9, 2023. (AFP)
Migrants of African origin are escorted by Tunisian coast guards upon their arrival in Sfax aboard a military boat on August 9, 2023. (AFP)
TT
20

41 Dead in Migrant Shipwreck According to 4 Survivors Who Set Off from Tunisia 

Migrants of African origin are escorted by Tunisian coast guards upon their arrival in Sfax aboard a military boat on August 9, 2023. (AFP)
Migrants of African origin are escorted by Tunisian coast guards upon their arrival in Sfax aboard a military boat on August 9, 2023. (AFP)

Forty-one people are believed dead after a boat carrying migrants capsized off Tunisia in rough seas, the Italian Red Cross and rescue groups reported, citing four survivors who were rescued and brought to land Wednesday.

The survivors reported having left Sfax, Tunisia, on a metal boat with a total of 45 people on Aug. 3. About six hours into their voyage, a huge wave overturned the vessel, RAI state television reported.

The Red Cross said in a statement that the four survived using inner tubes and managed to climb onto another empty vessel nearby, evidence of the large number of boats setting out from Sfax and the rough seas that hit the area in recent days, causing several other capsizings too.

Photos released by the Sea-Watch humanitarian rescue group taken by its monitoring aircraft showed the four survivors waving for help from the boat and making their way to a commercial tanker, the Maltese-flagged Rimona. The migrants rescued by the Rimona were then transferred onto an Italian coast guard vessel which brought them to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa on Wednesday, said Sea-Watch's Paul Wagner.

European Union border agency Frontex said that it had spotted a boat adrift in the Libyan search and rescue region and “informed all national rescue coordination centers in the region” as well as a mayday call given it was an emergency. Sea-Watch flew to the location, spotted the vessel and informed the closest merchant vessel, which was the Rimona, Wagner said.

According to the GPS location shared by Sea-Watch, the survivors were spotted inside the Libyan search and rescue zone around 66 kilometers (40 miles) from Tunisia and about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Lampedusa.

The International Organization of Migration said that the shipwreck brings to more than 1,800 the number of people dead and missing in the central Mediterranean, the most active and dangerous migration route in the world.

The Red Cross said the conditions of the four survivors, being cared for on Lampedusa, were good and that they would be transferred to the Italian mainland soon. The group said that three of the four claim to be minors, while the fourth is an adult male, all from Ivory Coast and Guinea. UN agencies, however, reported there was only one minor among them.

A doctor on Lampedusa who treated the four, Dr. Adrian Chiaramonte, said they had sustained “small wounds” and were suffering from dehydration, but “nothing major.”

“They said one boat saw them and kept on going. An hour later they saw a copter, then the oil tanker came” and rescued them, Chiaramonte told RaiNews24, adding that the survivors reported that altogether around 15 people had rudimentary lifesavers. No bodies have been recovered.

Rough seas over the weekend resulted in a series of shipwrecks and dramatic rescue attempts to save survivors. Italian authorities rescued dozens of migrants from the sea and from rocky reefs off Lampedusa, but at least 30 people were reported missing by survivors from capsized vessels. Eight bodies washed ashore back in Sfax.

Libya's lawless coasts used to be the main departure point for migrant smuggling operations. But in recent months, Tunisia’s eastern coast, notably the port city of Sfax, has become the main launching point for migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, to get to Italy and other parts of Europe in small boats.

Since early July hundreds of sub-Saharan migrants have reportedly been rounded up from coastal cities and dumped in deserted border areas with Libya or Algeria.

Tunisia’s interior minister has conceded that small groups are pushed back into the desert border areas with Libya and Algeria, but has denied mistreatment.

Tunisian authorities estimate that around 17,000 sub-Saharan people are concentrated in the Sfax area currently.

According to the Interior Ministry, more than 93,000 migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year, more than twice the 45,000 who arrived during the same period in 2022. The top nationalities of those arriving are from Guinea, Ivory Coast, Egypt and Tunisia.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose right-wing government includes the anti-migrant League party, has galvanized the EU to join it in efforts to coax Tunisia to crack down on smuggling operations, but the boats continue to set off.

Calls poured in Wednesday for Europe to develop safe and legal pathways of migration to prevent future deaths, echoing a refrain that follows the frequent incidents of deaths in the Mediterranean of desperate migrants seeking better, safer lives in Europe.

In a statement, the UN refugee agency, children's agency and IOM said the steel-hulled ship was particularly inappropriate for a trip of this kind, particularly given the “prohibitive weather and sea conditions."

“This highlights the absolute lack of scruples of traffickers who in this way expose migrants and refugees to extremely high risks of death at sea,” the agencies said.



UN Says ‘Deliberate’ Choices ‘Systematically’ Depriving Gazans

04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
TT
20

UN Says ‘Deliberate’ Choices ‘Systematically’ Depriving Gazans

04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)

The UN aid chief said Wednesday that recent "horrifying scenes" of Gazans being killed while seeking food aid were the result of "deliberate choices that have systematically deprived" them of essentials to survive.

A US and Israeli-backed group operating aid sites in the Gaza Strip announced the temporary closure of its facilities on Wednesday, with the Israeli army warning that roads leading to distribution centers were "considered combat zones".

The announcement by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation follows a string of deadly incidents near the distribution sites it operates.

On Tuesday, 27 people were killed in southern Gaza when Israeli troops opened fire near a GHF aid site, with the military saying the incident was under investigation.

"The world is watching, day after day, horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded or killed in Gaza while simply trying to eat," UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement.

"Emergency medical teams have confirmed treating hundreds of trauma cases. Yesterday alone, dozens were declared dead at hospitals after Israeli forces said they had opened fire.

"This is the outcome of a series of deliberate choices that have systematically deprived two million people of the essentials they need to survive."

He echoed the call by UN chief Antonio Guterres for immediate independent investigations, saying they were not isolated incidents, and the perpetrators must be held accountable.

"No-one should have to risk their life to feed their children," said Fletcher.

The GHF began operations a week ago, but the UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with it over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

Meanwhile the United Nations has described the amount of aid allowed into Gaza, after Israel partially lifted a more than two-month total blockade, as a trickle.

"We must be allowed to do our jobs: we have the teams, the plan, the supplies and the experience," said Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.

"Open the crossings -- all of them. Let in life-saving aid at scale, from all directions. Lift the restrictions on what and how much aid we can bring in.

"Ensure our convoys aren't held up by delays and denials. Release the hostages. Implement the ceasefire."