Thirty-seven migrants are missing after their boat capsized between Tunisia and the Italian island of Lampedusa, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday, citing the accounts of four survivors of the sinking.
The UN agency said the survivors, all from sub-Saharan Africa, arrived in Lampedusa late Thursday after being rescued from the sinking by another ship.
The survivors told IOM that they left the Tunisian port of Sfax for Italy with 46 people on board, but their boat capsized due to strong winds.
They said five of their traveling companions had been picked up by another boat, while 37 people are missing, including seven women and a child, a spokesperson for IOM in Italy told Reuters.
Earlier, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees gave a similar account of the same incident, but said 40 people were missing, instead of 37.
Tunisia has seen a surge in migration across the Mediterranean this year after Tunis cracked down on sub-Saharan African migrants living illegally in the country and reports of racist attacks amid an economic downturn.
At least 12 African migrants are missing and three have died after three boats sank off Tunisia, a judicial official said on Thursday, while the country’s coastguard rescued another 152 people.
