TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A boat carrying migrants from Libya to Europe capsized off Tunisia’s coast, prompting an ongoing rescue operation Wednesday after one body was recovered and dozens of people were reported missing.
The International Organization for Migration said that 75 people were unaccounted for and 30 others were rescued after the boat sank off Sfax in southern Tunisia.
Mourad Turki, a Sfax courts spokesman, told The Associated Press that those who were rescued were between 18 and 40 years old and of various nationalities, including people from Bangladesh, Egypt, Morocco and Cameroon. Turki added that the initial numbers of those missing were provisional and could increase.
Esma Rihane, a spokesperson for the IOM, said that the Tunisian navy was continuing to comb the area and search for the missing.