At least nine people have died, and six are missing after a migrant boat sank off the coast of Chebba, Tunisia, on December 12.
The boat, which had left Sfax on December 10, encountered bad weather, causing it to take on water. Tunisian authorities rescued 27 people, with survivors reporting that 42 were on board. Most of the migrants were from sub-Saharan Africa, including Cameroon, Senegal, and Guinea.
Since the beginning of the year, the Tunisian human rights group FTDES estimates that 600-700 people have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean. The UN Migration Agency (IOM) has recorded 1,617 deaths or disappearances along the central Mediterranean route, which includes departures from Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria.
Meanwhile, the Ocean Viking, a rescue ship operated by SOS Mediterranee, rescued 34 migrants from an overcrowded boat off Libya, only to later find a capsized vessel with no survivors. Another NGO, Emergency, also rescued 34 migrants from a boat off Libya, some of whom were from Sudan and Pakistan. Both organizations reported being approached by unidentified boats while in international waters, adding to concerns about rising threats to migrant rescues.
