The Tunisian Coast Guard recovered the body of a baby and a 20-year-old man who died in the shipwreck this Saturday of a boat carrying about twenty migrants off the coast of Gabes, in Tunisia, on the Central Mediterranean route to Europe.
A total of 13 undocumented Tunisians, according to the National Coast Guard, were rescued and security operations continue to search for at least five missing in the incident recorded this morning.
At least 903 people were killed or went missing in the first half of the year, while more than 35,000 people were intercepted by the Tunisian Coast Guard as they prepared to cross the central Mediterranean, the deadliest known route.
Just last weekend, 23 bodies of people who died in shipwrecks were recovered off the Tunisian coast of Sfax, the main starting point for migration to Europe, while at least 44 others remain missing.
Departures along this maritime route have multiplied from Tunisia, which surpassed Libya in the first half of the year as the first country from which boats depart for Europe, mainly Italy, according to UNHCR data. From Italian things
Numerous humanitarian vessels are engaged in rescue operations, such as the Ocean Viking ship, from the NGO Sos Mediterranée, which yesterday claimed to have rescued more than 500 migrants.
According to the latest data from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, nearly 94,000 migrants have landed on Italian shores so far this year, more than double the nearly 45,000 during the same period last year.
