At least 13 Sudanese migrants have died and 27 remain missing after a shipwreck off the coast of Tunisia on Thursday, February 8, 2024.

A badly welded makeshift metal boat capsized off the coast of Tunisia near Sfax yesterday. Tunisian authorities have confirmed at least 13 of the Sudanese migrants aboard dead, while another 27 remain missing, AFP reports.

According to a Tunisian court official, only two out of the group of 42 migrants who set off from the small town of Jebiniana, near Sfax, are confirmed to have survived the wreck.

The official told Reuters that the Tunisian authorities had so far recovered the bodies of 13 of the Sudanese migrants.

The central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy is one of the most dangerous in the world.

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned of the dangers of boarding badly soldered metal boats, which have become common for departures from Tunisia.