Protests erupt in Tunisia after migrant boat sinks

The Tunisian city of Ben Guerdane erupted in protest on Saturday night, one day after a boat carrying 15 migrants sank off the country’s southeastern coast.

Protesters blocked roads and set fire to tyres after the news of the shipwreck was announced.

Fourteen of the boat’s passengers were from Ben Guerdane, a marginalised city near the border with Libya.

Twelve bodies have been recovered and two people are still missing. Just one person was rescued.

Search operations continued on Sunday, with local fishermen joining Tunisia’s National Guard to look for survivors.

The area between Ben Guerdane and Zarzis has long been a departure point for migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.

Ben Guerdane witnessed a similar tragedy in 2022 when a boat carrying 18 people went missing.

That incident sparked weeks of protests as families accused authorities of failing to search for their relatives and of burying some recovered bodies without identifying them or informing their families.

The central Mediterranean crossing is the deadliest migration route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). More than 900 people have died or gone missing along the route this year, according to the IOM.

Migrant departures from Tunisia have fallen sharply since the European Union and Tunisia signed a sweeping agreement in 2023.

It included EU funding and technical support for Tunisian border control and coast guard training to help Tunisia curb irregular migration and deter human traffickers in the Mediterranean basin.

The EU allocated 105 million euros in migration-related support to Tunisia in 2023 alone.

The decline in migration has not ended dangerous crossings from Tunisia’s southern coast, where families in the south, particularly in Zarzis, have for years searched for relatives who disappeared at sea.