Boat with migrants sinks, 75 missing

Seventy-five people are missing after a boat full of migrants sank in Tunisia, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The IOM said 24 people had been rescued from the ship, which left the beaches of Zawara in northern Libya and sank off the coast of Sfax. A Tunisian security official told the Reuters news agency that the coast guard had found a body.

The central Mediterranean, which connects Libya with Italy or Malta, is the most dangerous migration route in the world, says IOM.

The UN agency estimates that more than 1,500 people died or went missing in the area in 2021 and more than 500 in 2022.

In recent months, tens of people have drowned off the coast of Tunisia. Hundreds of thousands of people have made the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean in recent years.

Figures from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report that more than 123,000 migrants arrived in Italy in 2021, compared to more than 95,000 in 2020.