TUNIS: At least 48 migrants were killed when their boat sank off Tunisia’s coast and 67 others were rescued by the coast guard, officials said on Sunday, one of the worst migrant boat accidents in recent years.
The boat went down near the southern island of Kerkenna, a tourist spot, in the night to Sunday, the defense ministry said in a statement. The victims were Tunisians and other nationalities, it said, without giving details.
The rescue operation was suspended late on Sunday but will resume on Monday morning, officials said.
Human traffickers increasingly use Tunisia as a launch pad for migrants heading to Europe as Libya’s coast guard, aided by armed groups, has tightened controls.
Security officials said the boat was packed with about 180 migrants, including 80 from other African countries.
A survivor said the captain had abandoned the boat after it started sinking to escape arrest by the coast guard.
“I survived by clinging to wood for nine hours,” he said at a hospital in the southern city of Sfax where dozens of people gathered to look for survivors and identify dead relatives.
Unemployed Tunisians and other Africans often try to depart in makeshift boats from Tunisia to Sicily in Italy.
The North African country is in the middle of a deep economic crisis since the toppling of autocrat Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 threw Tunisia into turmoil with unemployment and inflation shooting up.
Separately, nine people including six children died on Sunday after a speedboat carrying 15 refugees sank off the coast of Turkey’s southern province of Antalya, the Turkish coast guard said in a statement.
Reducing the flow of migrants into Italy is one of the aims of the anti-immigrant League party in Italy and its leader Matteo Salvini who was sworn in as the country’s new interior minister on Friday.
Salvini and his party have promised to block the arrival of boat migrants from Africa and to deport up to 100,000 illegal immigrants per year.
“The objective is to save lives. And this is done by preventing the departures of the boats of death that are a business for some and a disgrace for the rest of the world,” Salvini said in a statement, commenting on both the incidents.
“I will work to ensure that all the international organizations commit to stop departures, landings and deaths.”
As of May 30, 32,080 people had reached Europe by sea so far this year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on its website. Some 660 had died attempting the crossing, it said.
In October, a boat full of migrants sank after colliding with a Tunisian navy ship, killing at least 44.
At least 48 migrants dead after boat sinks off Tunisian coast
At least 48 migrants dead after boat sinks off Tunisian coast
- Tunisian authorities say 47 bodies were recovered off the country's southern coast, while 68 people were rescued
- The interior ministry says the coastguard and the navy continue their search with the support of a military plane
Trump says US will deal with Greenland ‘easy way’ or ‘hard way’
- Trump says controlling the mineral-rich island is crucial for US national security given the rising military activity of Russia and China in the Arctic
WASHINGTON, United States: US President Donald Trump on Friday again suggested the use of force to seize Greenland as he brushed aside Denmark’s sovereignty over the autonomous Arctic island.
“We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not,” Trump said at a White House meeting with oil executives looking to benefit in Venezuela, where the United States last week overthrew the president.
“I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way,” Trump said when asked of Greenland.
Trump says controlling the mineral-rich island is crucial for US national security given the rising military activity of Russia and China in the Arctic.
“We’re not going to have Russia or China occupy Greenland. That’s what they’re going to do if we don’t. So we’re going to be doing something with Greenland, either the nice way or the more difficult way.”
Both countries have increased military activity in the Arctic region in recent years, but neither has laid any claim to the vast icy island.
Denmark and other European allies have voiced shock at Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland, where the United States already has a military base.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an invasion of Greenland would end “everything,” meaning NATO and the post-World War II security structure.
Trump made light of the concerns of Denmark, a steadfast US ally that joined the United States in the controversial 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“I’m a fan of Denmark, too, I have to tell you. And you know, they’ve been very nice to me,” Trump said.
“But you know, the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn’t mean that they own the land.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to meet next week with Denmark’s foreign minister and representatives from Greenland.
