At least 13 Tunisians are missing after a migrant boat capsized off the southeastern coast of Tunisia while sailing towards Italy. The vessel departed early on Thursday, August 20, from near the towns of Ben Guerdane and Zarzis, carrying about 15 migrants, mostly young people including seven family members and a man with his pregnant wife [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

Two survivors were rescued. One was stranded at sea for hours after the boat sank, as relayed by Mostafa Abdelkebir, head of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights. The other survivor is in critical condition [1, 2, 3, 5]. Tunisian authorities have recovered four bodies from the sea but have not confirmed if all belong to migrants from this boat [3, 4, 5].

The Tunisian National Guard, supported by aircraft and naval units, is conducting search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean off the coast near Ben Guerdane, according to spokesperson Houssem Eddine Jebabli [3].

The central Mediterranean migration route from North Africa to Europe remains one of the deadliest, with many migrants attempting the journey on overcrowded and unseaworthy boats [1, 2, 3, 5]. Tunisia has experienced a sharp decline in migrant departures over the past two years because of a crackdown backed by European funding and modern border monitoring equipment, particularly from Italy [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

Human rights groups have criticized the EU-Tunisia migration agreement that started in 2023, arguing it has enabled abuses and calling for a suspension of EU border control funding in Tunisia [1, 2].

Since 2011, about 10,000 Tunisians are estimated to have gone missing at sea, and over 35,000 people have disappeared in the Mediterranean since 2014 [2].

Search and rescue efforts are ongoing after the boat capsized sometime on August 21 or 22. Authorities continue to recover bodies from the sea, and the fate of the remaining missing migrants remains unknown [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].