Around 20 others were rescued from the Mediterranean Sea, news agency AFP reported on Saturday (January 7) citing Faouzi Masmoudi, the district attorney from the Tunisian port city of Sfax. Patrol boats were continuing to scour the waters off Sfax for any more survivors, Masmoudi added.

Parts of the Tunisian coastline are less than 150 kilometers away from the Italian island of Lampedusa, making them a favored departure point for migrants ready to risk the dangerous sea crossing.

The number of migrants attempting the dangerous crossing from North Africa to Italy has been on the rise in recent months. On New Year's Eve, a group of 108 migrants was reportedly rescued from their sinking boats. And in late December, the bodies of four people believed to be African migrants, including a pregnant woman, were recovered off Tunisia's Kerkennah Islands.

Over 23,000 interceptions at sea

According to the Tunisian FTDES rights group, which monitors migration movements, more than 23,500 migrants of various nationalities were intercepted off Tunisia between January and September last year. More than 500 people died or disappeared at sea during the same period, FTDES said.

According to AFP citing Tunisian authorities, the country's coast guard is under pressure to reduce the number of migrants leaving its shores but lacks the means to do so.

Some 18,000 migrants from Tunisia reached the Italian coast during 2022 irregularly, Italian Interior Ministry figures show. Tunisians were the second-largest group of migrants, followed by Bangladeshis and Syrians. Only Egyptians arrived in greater numbers.

The so-called Central Mediterranean route, which also includes boat setting off from neighboring Libya, is the world's most deadly migration pathway. Close to 1,400 migrants died or went missing there last year, according to UN migration agency IOM.

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With AFP