At least 25 dead after boat carrying people to Europe sinks off Tunisia

File photo of Tunisia national guard vessels. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

At least 25 people have died after a boat carrying people from sub-Saharan Africa towards Europe sank off the coast of Tunisia.

Fifteen bodies were discovered on Thursday, the Tunisian coastguard said, after 10 were recovered on Wednesday following the shipwreck the day before off the coastal city of Sfax.

Six women were among the dead found on Thursday, as well as the boat’s Tunisian captain.

Faouzi Masmoudi, a spokesperson for the court of Sfax, which is investigating the deaths, said 15 bodies had been trapped under the boat.

A spokesperson for the national guard announced on Thursday that 41 Tunisian people, including five women and nine children, had been rescued off the coast of Sousse.

Dozens of people, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, have drowned off Tunisia in recent weeks in desperate attempts to reach Europe. The country, the coastline of which is less than 90 miles (150km) from the Italian island of Lampedusa, has long been a favoured spot for people attempting the journey.

Departures of people from sub-Saharan Africa intensified after the Tunisian president, Kais Saied, gave an incendiary speech in February accusing “hordes” of illegal immigrants of causing a crime wave and being part of a “plot” to change Tunisia’s demographic makeup. The comments led to a wave of evictions and violence against black migrants.

The United Nations’ human rights chief, Volker Türk, voiced alarm on Thursday over the “precarious” situation of asylum seekers and migrants attempting to cross the central Mediterranean, the world’s deadliest migration route. “We are seeing a steep increase in the number of desperate people putting their lives at grave risk,” he said. “We cannot afford to dither, and to become embroiled in yet another debate about who is responsible. Human lives are at stake.”

Tunisia’s coastguard said last week it had intercepted more than 14,000 people trying to reach Europe from January to March, more than five times the number of those who attempted the trip in the first quarter of 2022. According to the Italian interior ministry, more than 14,000 people have landed in Italy since the start of the year, compared with just over 5,300 during the same period last year.

On Tuesday, Italy’s rightwing government announced a state of emergency on immigration after the sharp rise in arrivals across the Mediterranean, a move that will allow it to send back people more quickly.