Four people have died and 19 are missing after a boat carrying out Tunisian migrants capsized off the Tunisian coast on Sunday.
A total of 30 migrants were carried out in a small boat and “7 were rescued,” said Farid Ben Jha, spokesperson for the court of Mahdia and Monastir.
Four people were arrested for having participated in the organization of the attempt to cross the Mediterranean, said the spokesperson who opened an investigation to identify those responsible.
According to the spokesperson, the passengers were mostly young men.
When the boat overturned, Sunday at dawn, in front of the coasts of Chebba, near Mahdia, one of them managed to swim to the shore and gave the alert.
Mahdia is located about 140 km from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Rescue services recovered four lifeless bodies and rescued seven occupants of the boat, but “the others are missing,” the spokesperson said, stressing that “the boat was too small to carry 30 people.”
In addition, the weather was bad with rough seas and wind. The testimonies collected did not reveal where the boat had left from.
In recent weeks, arrivals have increased on the Italian island, located near the coastal town of Mahdia, in Tunisia. On June 15, more than 600 migrants, including minors, arrived in Lampedusa in only one day, according to infomigrants.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), between January 1st and April 21, 2021, a total of 8,604 people have succeeded to cross to Europe from Tunisia.
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