Tragedy at Sea
Two people are dead and at least 12 are missing after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of southern Tunisia on Saturday. One survivor was rescued.
According to the Associated Press, the Tunisian National Guard spokesperson Houssem Eddine Jebabli told state news agency TAP that authorities recovered two bodies and transferred them to a hospital on the nearby island of Djerba. He also told national radio Mosaique FM that about 15 people were believed to be aboard the boat when it took off between the cities of Zarzis and Ben Guerdane.
The boat had set off early Thursday, and a commercial ship found the sole survivor Saturday in a life jacket, as Mosaique reported citing testimony from the survivor. Following the rescue, a helicopter and coast guard boats were dispatched to the area in search of more survivors, according to an Associated Press photojournalist at the scene.
The migrants were believed to be headed toward Italy.
A Long History of Departures
Zarzis has long been a departure point for Tunisians and others from around Africa or beyond attempting to cross the Mediterranean toward Europe. The city witnessed a similar tragedy in 2022, when a boat carrying 18 people went missing. That incident sparked weeks of protests as families accused authorities of failing to properly search for their relatives and burying some recovered bodies without identifying them.
The decline in migration from Tunisia has not ended dangerous crossings from the country's southern coast, where families, particularly in Zarzis, have for years searched for relatives who disappeared at sea.
EU-Tunisia Agreement and Rights Concerns
Migrant departures from Tunisia have fallen sharply since the European Union and Tunisia signed a sweeping agreement in 2023. That agreement included EU funding and technical support for Tunisian border control and coast guard training, aimed at helping Tunisia curb irregular migration and deter human traffickers in the Mediterranean basin. The EU allocated 105 million euros in migration-related support to Tunisia in 2023 alone.
Rights groups have raised concerns about the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in Tunisia since the EU agreement, including reports of collective expulsions, racial violence, arbitrary detention, and abuses against Black migrants. Amnesty International has said that EU support for border control in Tunisia continued to fuel serious rights violations, with refugees and asylum seekers 'deliberately trapped in a system that offers neither protection nor a safe way out.'