TUNIS: Tunisia has recovered 14 bodies of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa in the Mediterranean, bringing to 24 the number of dead after their boat headed for Europe sank, the coast guard said Thursday.
The coast guard had announced on Wednesday that it had recovered 10 bodies of sub-Saharan African migrants after the shipwreck the day before off the coastal city of Sfax.
But on Thursday it said 14 more bodies of migrants were discovered, including six women, during search operations, as well as the body of the boat’s Tunisian captain.
Faouzi Masmoudi, the spokesman for the court of Sfax which is investigating the tragedy, told AFP that the 15 bodies had been trapped under the boat.
The spokesman for the National Guard also announced Thursday that 41 Tunisian migrants, including five women and nine children, had been “rescued” off the coast of Sousse.
Dozens of migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, have drowned off Tunisia in recent weeks in desperate attempts to reach Europe.
The country, whose coastline is less than 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the Italian island of Lampedusa, has long been a favored spot for migrants attempting the journey.
Departures of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa intensified after Tunisian President Kais Saied gave an incendiary speech in February accusing “hordes” of illegal immigrants of causing a crime wave and being part of a “plot” to change Tunisia’s demographic make-up.
The comments led to a wave of evictions and violence against black migrants.
The United Nations’ Human Rights chief Volker Turk voiced alarm on Thursday over the “precarious” situation of asylum-seekers and migrants attempting to cross the Central Mediterranean, the world’s deadliest migration route.
“We are seeing a steep increase in the number of desperate people putting their lives at grave risk,” he said in a statement.
“We cannot afford to dither, and to become embroiled in yet another debate about who is responsible. Human lives are at stake.”
Tunisia’s coast guard said last week it had intercepted over 14,000 migrants trying to reach Europe from January to March, more than five times the number of those who attempted the trip in the first quarter of 2022.
Since 2014 over 26,000 people have died or gone missing crossing the Mediterranean, including over 20,000 along the Central Mediterranean route alone, according to the UN.
Death toll from migrant boat disaster off Tunisia rises to 24
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Death toll from migrant boat disaster off Tunisia rises to 24
- Dozens of migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, have drowned off Tunisia in recent weeks in desperate attempts to reach Europe
First responders enter devastated Aleppo neighborhood after days of deadly fighting
- The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army
ALEPPO, Syria: First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid Al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
