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Boat capsized in Tunisia coast: 13 migrants missing
Published : Saturday, 22 August, 2026 at 3:30 PM
Observer Online Report
At least 13 Tunisian are missing after a boat carrying migrants sank off the Tunisian coast in the Mediterranean.
Mustafa Abdelkebir, head of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed to Reuters on Saturday.
Abdelkebir said, ''on Thursday (August 20) a motorized boat carrying 15 migrants departed from the Tunisian coast, bound for Italy.
However, the boat sank after traveling some distance, leaving 13 migrants missing. The other two were rescued alive, although one of them is in critical condition.
According to the survivors, who spoke to the head of the Tunisian human rights organization, the boat remained adrift at sea for several hours before its engine failed and it sank.
Until a few years ago, Tunisia’s coastline was a popular departure point for migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean to reach Italy and Greece.
However, human smuggling from the Tunisian coast had declined significantly over the past two years following a crackdown by the Tunisian government on smuggling networks and increased activity by the coast guard, supported by European funding and technological assistance.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and dozens of other human rights and humanitarian organizations said in a joint statement last month that the agreement under which the European Union (EU) provides financial and technological assistance to Tunisia has encouraged and normalized serious abuses against migrants and asylum seekers in the country.
The organizations also called on the EU to suspend funding for migration and border-control operations involving Tunisian security forces.
Tunisia has not commented on the statement but has repeatedly said that it is the main victim of a major migration influx. President Kais Saied, "in 2023 that the influx was aimed at changing the country’s demographic composition.
The central Mediterranean route is one of the world’s deadliest migration routes. Migrants from Africa and the Middle East use it to reach Europe, often traveling in overcrowded or unseaworthy boats.
-MT
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Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
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Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Advertisement: 41053012; 01793317829, 01550707291, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Online: email: [email protected] 41053014; 01550707297 Advertisement: 01550707296
