60 migrants drown off Tunisia

Around 60 migrants have died after their boat upturned in the Mediterranean Sea after it left from Libya to Italy. Most the people who died belonged to Bangladesh.

Survivors told the authorities that 75 people were transferred to a smaller boat which was overloaded and after 10 minutes later, it sank.

Tunisian fishermen saved 16 people and brought them to the shore in Zarzis. The survivors said that it was after eight hours trapped in the cold sea, that the fishermen spotted them.

The UN agency for refugees UNHCR called for stepped up search and rescue operations to avoid future tragedies in the Mediterranean Sea, which they call the “world’s deadliest sea crossing”.