Sfax coastguard units rescued 23 people and recovered 11 bodies of illegal migrants whose boat sank off the coast of Sidi Mansour in Sfax on Monday morning.

The boat was carrying mostly Tunisians, but also a number of sub-Saharan Africans, including women and children, and sank shortly after leaving the coast, said the spokesman for the Sfax 1 Court of First Instance and its prosecutor, Faouzi Masmoudi.

He added in a statement to TAP that 7 people who were on the boat are still missing.

The Public Prosecutor of the Court of First Instance of Sfax 1 has authorised the opening of an investigation against one person and all those who may be revealed by the investigation for their involvement in a criminal agreement to help others to cross the sea border illegally, committed against a child and resulting in his death," he added.