Tunisia migrant shipwreck death toll climbs to 112

By Fatih Erel

GENEVA (AA) - At least 112 migrants were killed after a boat with migrants capsized off Tunisia’s coast Sunday, UN migration agency, IOM said on Tuesday.

Tunisian authorities rescued 68 survivors and recovered 60 bodies during a search and rescue operation which is still underway, IOM said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to Lorena Lando, IOM Chief of Mission in Tunisia, 68 survivors include 60 Tunisians, 2 Moroccans, 1 Libyan, 1 Malian, 1 Cameroonian and 3 Ivorians.

33,192 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea so far in 2018, comparing with 72,158 arrivals across the region through the same period last year and about 206,790 at this time in 2016, IOM said.

"The estimated 125 men, women and children drowned in waters off Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria, Spain and Morocco made 1-3 June the Mediterranean’s deadliest for migrants this year," IOM said.

"This is the first time this year that we recorded three incidents on the three routes over the same weekend. The incident in Tunisia, with 112 deaths, is also the deadliest recorded in the Mediterranean this year," said Julia Black of IOM’s Missing Migrants Project in Berlin.

In the Mediterranean Sea, 785 migrants lost their lives since the beginning of 2018, comparing 1,650 deaths in 2017 through 4 June; at this time in 2016 the figure was 2,512, IOM said.