According to the International Organisation for Migration, 75 people have been reported missing following the sinking of a boat full of migrants off Tunisia.
According to the IOM, 24 people were rescued from the boat that left Zawara in northern Libya and crashed off the coast of Sfax.
According to Reuters, a Tunisian security officer said that the coastguard had found a body.
The rescuers were between 18 and 40 years old and were of different nationalities, Mourad Turki, a spokesperson for Sfax courts, said.
He said that initial numbers of missing persons were provisional and could rise.
Esma Rihane, spokesperson for IOM, stated that the Tunisian Navy was still searching the area in search of the missing.
According to reports, the boat left Zuwara, northern Libya on Sunday night.
According to the Sfax National Guard, it ran aground six-miles from Kerkennah island, Tunisia’s coast.
Zuwara is a port of entry for migrants from Libya who are trying to reach the Italian coast via sea.
According to the IOM, the most dangerous route for migration is through the central Mediterranean. It connects Libya to Italy and Malta.
43 migrants were reported missing last July after a boat carrying 127 people from Zuwara, southern Tunisia, sank off Zarzis.
According to the UN agency, more than 1,500 people were killed or missing in the region in 2021 and more that 500 in 2022.
Numerous people have drowned off Tunisia’s coast in recent months.
In recent years, hundreds of thousands have attempted the dangerous Mediterranean crossing.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), showed that more than 123,000 migrants arrived to Italy in 2021, as compared with more than 95,000 in 2020.
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