The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday that 25 migrants who were trying to reach Europe illegally died of drowning off the coast of Tunisia in the Mediterranean.
“Between Friday March 18 and Saturday March 19, the bodies of 25 people washed up on the beaches of Nabeul,” the IOM said in a statement, adding that “the identification of the bodies is in progress, but according to the information available , they would be migrants of Syrian and Tunisian nationality”.
Tunisian civil protection spokesman Moez Triaa said on Saturday that the lifeless bodies of 17 migrants had washed up in the sea off the coast of northeastern Tunisia.
Tunisia and Libya have become two of the main departure points for migrants who dream of a better life in Europe, often fleeing conflict or poverty.
A total of 15,671 migrants, including 584 women, managed to reach Italian soil from the Tunisian coasts in 2021, compared to 12,883 (including 353 women) in 2020, according to the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), which specializes in migration issues. . Nearly 2,000 migrants were reported missing or drowned in the Mediterranean last year, compared to 1,401 in 2020, according to the IOM.
Stating that 149 illegal migrants have drowned since the beginning of 2022 off the coast of Tunisia, the FTDES and 36 other human rights organizations and trade unions deplored in a statement on Monday, the continued deterioration of the socio- economy in the country which is pushing a growing number of Tunisians to try to reach Europe illegally at the risk of their lives.