Death toll now 20 from Mediterranean shipwreck off Tunisian coast
Migrants on an overcrowded wooden boat await rescue by the German NGO migrant rescue ship Sea-Watch 3 and the French NGO SOS Mediterranee migrant rescue ship Ocean Viking, during a rescue operation in international waters off the coast of Tunisia, in the western Mediterranean Sea, August 1, 2021. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi
The death toll from a migrant shipwreck off Tunisia on Friday has risen to 20 people, most of them Syrians, as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, a civil protection official told Reuters on Saturday, the latest migrant ship disaster off Tunisia.
He said the coastguard recovered eight bodies on Saturday, after finding 12 on Friday. A search was still under way.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. In recent months, several people have drowned off the Tunisian coast, with an increase in the frequency of attempted crossings to Europe from Tunisia and Libya towards Italy.
Hundreds of thousands of people have made the perilous Mediterranean crossing in recent years, many of them fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.
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