Death toll from Tunisia refugee shipwreck rises to 25, 35 feared drowned
Europe-bound vessel was carrying 60 migrants and refugees, most of them from Syria and Tunisia, says International Organisation for Migration.
Tunisia and neighbouring Libya are key departure points for migrants and refugees aiming to reach European shores.
The death toll from a migrant shipwreck off Tunisia at the weekend has risen to 25, amid fears that 35 others in the same boat have drowned, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.
The vessel was carrying 60 migrants and refugees, most of them from Syria and Tunisia, IOM said on Sunday.
The bodies washed up off Cape Bon, a peninsula on the strait of Sicily, Italy, civil defence spokesperson Moez Triaa, told AFP news agency on Saturday.
"The majority were from sub-Saharan Africa but there were also Syrians," Triaa said, without providing details on where they had set off from or the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
Tunisia and neighbouring Libya are key departure points for migrants and refugees aiming to reach European shores.
READ MORE: Refugees trying to reach Europe drown, bodies found off Tunisia coast
The United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR has said around 1,300 migrants and refugees drowned or went missing in 2021 on the Central Mediterranean route, making it the world's deadliest migration pathway.
IOM estimates that more than 18,000 migrants and refugees have died or disappeared while attempting to make the trip since 2014.
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