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At least 13 Sudanese migrants have died and 27 others are missing after their boat sank off Tunisia’s coast, a Tunisian official has said.<\/p>\n
Only two people on board survived, while search operations were under way for those missing, he added.<\/p>\n
It is the latest disaster to hit migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe.<\/p>\n
Sudan plunged into a civil war about 10 months ago, forcing at least nine million people to flee their homes.<\/p>\n
Most of them have taken refuge either in safer parts of the country, or in neighbouring states.<\/p>\n
Some foreign governments, including the UK’s, evacuated their nationals trapped in Sudan after fighting broke out between the army and a rival paramilitary force last April.<\/p>\n
In total 2,498 migrants died in 2023 trying to cross the central Mediterranean, a 75% increase on the previous year, according to the International Organization for Migration.<\/p>\n
Last year, the European Union (EU) signed a deal with Tunisia to tackle irregular migration.<\/p>\n
The deal includes $118m (\u00a390m) to stop smuggling, strengthen borders and return migrants.<\/p>\n
The latest disaster took place after the boat left Jebiniana, a small town near the city of Sfax.<\/p>\n
A judicial spokesman in the Tunisian city of Monastir, Farid Ben Jha, said an investigation was under way into the incident.<\/p>\n
The migrants were likely to have been “exploited in a human trafficking case or in the formation of a criminal group to reach Europe illegally”, he was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.<\/p>\n
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