14 migrants died this Saturday in the shipwreck of a boat off the coast of Ben Gadrane, in southeastern Tunisia, according to the official news agency TAP. The boat set sail early Thursday with 15 people on board, mainly young people, including seven members of the same family, as well as a man and his pregnant wife, according to Mostafa Abdelkebir, director of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights, who detailed this to the Reuters agency.
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Only one of the occupants survived, reported the spokesperson for the Tunisian National Guard. The survivor told rescue teams that they had drifted at sea for two days after their boat capsized.
The number of migrant deaths has more than doubled on the central Mediterranean route and tripled on the eastern Mediterranean route during the first four months of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, despite the fact that the number of arrivals in Europe decreased considerably, according to the most recent report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), published on August 12.
The central Mediterranean route from the North African coast is one of the deadliest in the world, used by migrants from Africa and the Middle East trying to reach Europe, often in overcrowded or precarious vessels. On this route, according to the IOM, 914 people have died or are missing so far in 2026. More than half of these deaths and disappearances (571) were recorded in January alone, when Cyclone Harry struck the region.
Migrant departures from Tunisia to Italy decreased significantly after the signing of the memorandum of understanding with the European Union in 2023, which provides for migration control in exchange for financial support. Tunisian authorities blocked sea departures while promoting voluntary returns and, according to international organizations, expelled thousands of migrants to border desert areas.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and dozens of other human rights and humanitarian organizations stated in a communiqué last month that the migration agreement between the EU and Tunisia had encouraged and normalized serious abuses against migrants and asylum seekers in Tunisia. The organizations urged the EU to suspend funding for migration and border control activities involving Tunisian security forces.
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