Migrant boat sinks off Tunisia-Italy route, leaving one dead, 87 rescued

(AFP): A migrant boat sank between Tunisia and Italy, leaving one woman dead, though the Italian coastguard managed to rescue 87 survivors, the Red Cross told AFP Monday.

After setting out from La Louza in Tunisia, the fishing boat sank in the middle of the night when it was approximately 45 miles (72 kilometres) from Italy's Lampedusa island, according to Italian media.

Tunisian fishermen in the area alerted Italian authorities, they said, adding that at least five or six migrants were believed to be still missing.

The rescued migrants, all from sub-Saharan Africa, were transported to a reception centre in Lampedusa for care, according to the Italian Red Cross, which runs the centre.

It said the coastguard had recovered the body of a drowned woman.

As of June 30, 29,903 migrants have landed on Italian shores this year, including 5,146 unaccompanied minors, according to Italy's interior ministry.

That was slightly higher than last year during the same period but less than half of 2023, when 65,519 migrants arrived from January until the end of June.

Most of those arriving in Italy from north Africa come via the central Mediterranean route, one of the world's deadliest.

Last year, the International Organization for Migration recorded 2,452 people who died while crossing the Mediterranean in the hopes of reaching Europe.

There were an estimated 3,155 migrant deaths in the Mediterranean in 2023. The figure has been on the rise since a low of 1,450 in 2020, according to the IOM.