TUNIS (Halbeeg News) – A boat carrying dozens of migrants has capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Tunisia.
At least l65 people were killed according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).
UNHCR said in a statement on Friday that 16 survivors were pulled from the water after the vessel sank “in one of the worst incidents on the Mediterranean in months”.
“This is a tragic and terrible reminder of the risks still faced by those who attempt to cross the Mediterranean,” said Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR’s special envoy for the Mediterranean.
Only four bodies have been recovered so far and search operations were ongoing, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a Twitter post.
According to reports by Tunisia’s state-run TAP news agency, the boat carrying as many as 70 refugees and migrants sank 40 nautical miles off the coast of Sfax, some 270km south of the capital, Tunis.
Fishing boats rescued the survivors, TAP reported.
IOM, which described the incident as “another tragedy in the Mediterranean”, said the vessel took to the sea from neighboring Libya where renewed warfare between rival factions has gripped the capital, Tripoli, in recent weeks.
An IOM official told The Associated Press news agency those on board included Bangladeshi and Moroccan nationals, among others.
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