At least 13 Tunisians missing as migrant boat headed for Italy capsizes

At least 13 Tunisians are missing after a boat carrying migrants sank off the Tunisian coast while sailing towards Italy, according to a migrant rights group.

Two people were rescued from the boat, which set off early on Thursday, Mostafa Abdelkebir, the head of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights, said on Saturday.

One of the two survivors told rescuers on board a local boat that they had been stranded at sea for hours after their vessel capsized. The second survivor was in critical condition, said Abdelkebir, whose group monitors migration issues.

Tunisia was once a major departure point for migrants attempting to reach Europe, but the number of people attempting the crossing from Tunisia has declined sharply in the last two years amid a crackdown and tighter maritime controls supported by the European Union.

The North African country had also been a key departure point for people from across Africa seeking to reach Europe, many of them travelling in overcrowded or unseaworthy boats.

In July, 46 rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, issued a joint statement criticising the EU’s 2023 deal with Tunisia to curb migration.

The deal provides Tunisia with funding to carry out EU border control in the country, and this has led to “reckless and violent interceptions at sea” of refugees, “collective and summary expulsions”, and “fueled and normalized serious human rights violations”, the groups said.

They called on the EU to suspend funding for migration and ⁠border-control activities involving Tunisian security forces.

The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 35,000 people have gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014.

The Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights has previously estimated that about 10,000 Tunisians have gone missing at sea attempting to cross to Europe since 2011.