The Tunisian coast guard issued a statement late on Tuesday (April 18) confirming that at least 15 people are missing after their boat sank off the coast of Tunisia. Four others were rescued.

According to the news agency Reuters, the boat had left Tunisia near the town of Kerkennah and the migrants had been hoping to reach Italy.

Since the beginning of April, more and more boats have got into trouble off the coast of Tunisia, resulting in just over 50 deaths or missing people on that route. Since the beginning of the year, the UN Migration Agency IOM's Missing Migrants project has recorded 522 deaths in the central Mediterranean as a whole, including 46 children.

This year, Tunisia took over from Libya as the most common point of departure for migrants aiming to reach Europe from the coast of north Africa.

The Tunisian coast guard has received funding and training from Italy and the EU in order to stop more boats from leaving the country. It says it has stopped more than 14,000 people so far this year from attempting to cross the Central Mediterranean.

Early on Wednesday morning (April 19), the organization Alarm Phone, which monitors migrants' journeys towards Europe, posted a tweet saying it had been in contact with around 100 people whose boat was also on the point of sinking off the coast of Libya.

Deadliest period since 2017

Last week, at least 32 migrants died in a shipwreck off Tunisia. The Tunisian authorities found more and more bodies as the week after the shipwreck progressed. That accident followed close on the heels of two other accidents over the Easter weekend, when at least 27 people died.

According to statements from the Tunisian coast guard, most of the victims were originally from sub-Saharan African countries.

At its closest point, Tunisia lies just 150 kilometers from Italy’s island of Lampedusa. The first quarter of 2023 was declared the most deadly period since 2017 by the IOM.

Since 2014, the Missing Migrants project has counted more than 20,000 deaths. The actual toll is probably much higher, since many people set off without notifying anyone of doing so, and the numbers missing are counted based on testimony from survivors of the accidents.

Agreements with Tunisia

In 2021, Italy signed a series of accords with Tunisia, building on agreements between the two countries stretching back to at least 1998. According to an article on the website Melting Pot, which describes itself as an editorial project promoting free movement and citizen’s rights, the accords signed in 2021 were to last three years and promised financial support to the tune of at least €200 million. In return, Italy expected Tunisia to patrol its borders more closely and take back Tunisian citizens who had no right to stay in Italy.

Also read: Citizens of a 'safe country,' Tunisian migrants in Italy

Tunisia has been designated a "safe country" by Italy, as well as a number of other European member states, meaning that citizens could be sent back more easily. However, this designation is again being disputed by groups of NGOs and civil society actors, which feel that Tunisia, since the president dissolved parliament, is no longer safe nor democratic.

In 2019, according to Melting Pot, Germany’s former Chancellor Merkel also made similar agreements with Tunisia, promising to pay €250 million to Tunisia to sustain its economy and help it patrol the borders more effectively.

Until 2026, Germany's Federal Police is also implementing an EU-funded project in cooperation with the International Center for Migration Policy Development to strengthen the functions of the Tunisian coast guard.

With Reuters