Dozens of migrants drowned on Friday after their boat capsized off the coast of Tunisia, a monitoring group reported, the latest disaster on a perilous but frequently used crossing in the Mediterranean.
At least 50 people were killed, according to the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations migration agency, and 16 people were rescued. Most of those who died were reportedly from sub-Saharan Africa.
The boat left from Zuwara, Libya, the Tunisian Ministry of Defensesaid in a statement, and was headed toward Italy when it capsized about 40 miles from the coastal city of Sfax.
The movement of refugees and migrants from Northern Africa and the Middle East across the Mediterranean has dropped significantly from its peak in 2015, when more than one million people traveled the route, but it has remained deadly.
The crossing from Libya to Italy has grown increasingly treacherous. Charity vessels that carry out rescue operations and respond to distress calls are finding themselves unwelcome in many European ports, forcing many to stop operating.Rescued migrants at the port of the Italian island of Lampedusa, in southern Italy, on Friday.CreditElio Desiderio/ANSA, via Associated Press
The Italian Navy officially began coordinating rescue missions in the central Mediterranean after a devastating shipwreck in 2013 near Lampedusa left hundreds dead, but the approach has shifted as migrant rescues have become highly politicized.
Italy’s populist government has cracked down on immigration and says the charity ships that once partnered with navy vessels are aiding smugglers who shuttle migrants from Libya to Europe.
The journey from Libya has always been fraught with risk, and the country’s policy of rounding up and detaining migrants and refugees has left them in an even more precarious position, given the country’s poor human rights record and the continuing civil war that has reached the outskirts of the capital.
This week, the United Nations refugee agency warned that with conflict raging in Tripoli, people stranded in detention centers were increasingly at risk.
“The risks are simply unacceptable at this point,” Vincent Cochetel, the refugee agency’s special envoy for the Central Mediterranean, said in a statement. “People inside detention centers in Tripoli are facing ever-increasing dangers, making it vital that we immediately move them out of harm’s way.”
The organization also denounced recent efforts to return those fleeing the conflict in Libya, saying the country was not safe. Last week, an organization operating a rescue vessel in the area reported that the Libyan Coast Guard had intercepted two boats with about 170 people aboard fleeing the conflict in Libya and turned them back to shore.