At least 10 people died and more than 30 are still missing after a boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Tunisia, officials said on Wednesday.
Tunisian cost guard rescued 76 migrants from the same shipwreck, the national guard official Houssem Eddin Jebabli said.
Faouzi Masmoudi, a judge from the city of Sfax, told Reuters that up to 30 people were still missing.
The past month has seen a sharp increase in migrant boats trying to reach the Italian coast from Tunisia, leading to a spike in drowning accidents as vessels are often rickety and overcrowded with unreliable engines. In March at least 52 migrants died and 70 went missing in similar disasters.
The National Guard said this month that more than 14,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, were intercepted or rescued in the first three months of the year while trying to cross to Europe, five times more than figures recorded in the same period last year.
The sharp increase is partly due to Tunisia taking over from Libya as a main departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East in the hope of a better life in Europe.
Crackdowns on human trafficking in Libya in recents months have made Tunisia a more accessible option.
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he takes full responsibility for his administration's "war on drugs", in a video message posted on his Facebook account, as he braces for a legal battle at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Officials from the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and Palestine agreed to continue consultations on their Gaza reconstruction plan with US Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, it was announced after a meeting in Qatar on Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin donned military fatigues for a surprise visit to troops in Russia's western Kursk region on Wednesday, where he ordered them to press their lightning advance and swiftly retake the rest of the area from Ukrainian forces.
NASA and SpaceX have delayed the launch of a replacement crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station that would have set in motion the long-awaited homecoming of US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
Pakistan's military said it had ended a standoff on Wednesday with separatist fighters who had hijacked a passenger train in the country's southwestern Balochistan province and taken hundreds of people hostage.
Every weekday afternoon, Helen Farmer will help you to navigate the highs and lows of life in the UAE. Stay up to date with what’s happening and where to go.
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