Tunisian Coast Guard Recovers 11 Bodies After Migrant Boat Sinks en Route to Italy

Tunisian coast guard teams have recovered the bodies of 11 migrants after a vessel carrying 15 people capsized off the country’s coast last week, the National Guard confirmed Sunday. Authorities continue to search for three remaining missing passengers, deploying helicopters alongside coast guard, military, and civil protection units.

The boat departed early Thursday from the southeastern region of Ben Guerdane, near the Libyan border, bound for Italy. Only one survivor has been found alive; he reported drifting at sea for 48 hours before a commercial vessel rescued him. According to the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights, the passengers included seven members of a single family and a man traveling with his pregnant wife.

The tragedy sparked protests in Ben Guerdane on Saturday evening, where dozens of young people demanded accelerated search operations. Police dispersed the demonstrators using tear gas.

The central Mediterranean crossing from North Africa remains one of the world’s deadliest migration corridors, frequented by individuals from Africa and the Middle East attempting to reach Europe in often unseaworthy, overcrowded boats. Last month, a coalition including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International warned that a migration agreement between Tunisia and the European Union has normalized serious abuses against migrants and asylum seekers in the country, urging the EU to suspend funding for border-control activities involving Tunisian security forces.

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