11 Bodies Recovered After Migrant Boat Sinks Off Tunisia

Tunisian coast guard forces have recovered 11 bodies after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the country’s southern coast last week, with search operations continuing for 3 others still missing, the National Guard said on Sunday.

The boat, which was carrying 15 people, mostly young Tunisians from the Ben Guerdane area, sank off the Tunisian coast after setting out early on Thursday.

Only one person has so far been rescued alive. The survivor reportedly spent about 48 hours adrift at sea before being picked up by a commercial vessel.

Among those aboard were seven members of the same family, while another passenger was travelling with his pregnant wife, according to a Tunisian human rights group.

National Guard spokesperson Houssem Eddine Jebabli told state news agency TAP that two bodies were initially recovered and transferred to a hospital on the nearby island of Djerba.

The latest recovery brings the number of bodies found to 11, after three were recovered on Saturday and eight more on Sunday.

The incident has sparked anger in Ben Guerdane, near Tunisia’s border with Libya, where residents gathered on Saturday to demand faster search operations. Police used tear gas to disperse protesters.

Zarzis has long been one of the main departure points for Tunisians and migrants from across sub-Saharan Africa attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing to Europe.

The city witnessed a similar tragedy in 2022, when a boat carrying 18 people disappeared, sparking weeks of protests as families accused authorities of burying recovered bodies without identifying them or notifying relatives.

The International Organization for Migration said earlier this month that at least 914 migrants had died or gone missing along the central Mediterranean route in 2026, with the figure more than double the number recorded during the same period last year.