At least 27 people including women and children have died and 83 others were rescued after two boats capsized off Tunisia, the country’s National Guard has said.

The boats sank in waters off the city of Sfax, a departure point often used by irregular migrants and refugees seeking to travel to Europe.

The two makeshift boats set sail “on the night of December 31 to January 1,” a Tunisian National Guard official told AFP on Thursday on condition of anonymity.

The National Guard, which oversees the Tunisian Coast Guard, said that a baby was among the dead.

All the victims and those rescued were from sub-Saharan African countries, Ziad al-Sidiri, director of civil protection in Sfax, said in a press release on Thursday.

Al-Sidiri added that 15 of the survivors were transferred to hospital to receive first aid, while the bodies of those who died have been handed over to the Tunisian Coast Guard, which will transport them to the local forensics department.

Searches for the remaining missing people on board are still ongoing.

Last month, the Tunisian Coast Guard recovered the bodies of about 30 other people in two separate incidents, after their boat sank while they were sailing towards Europe.

The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) also noted that “between 600 and 700” people were killed or missing in shipwrecks off Tunisia in 2024, compared with more than 1,300 in 2023.

The sea migration route between Africa and Europe is one of the most dangerous in the world, with almost 24,500 people disappearing or dying in the central Mediterranean since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Most of those deaths occurred on boats that set sail from Libya and Tunisia.

In recent years, Tunisia has replaced Libya as the major departure point for both Tunisians and people from elsewhere seeking a better life in Europe.

The European Union struck a migration and development agreement with Tunisia in 2023 worth 255 million euros ($262m) that aimed to bolster Tunisia’s capacity to prevent boats from leaving its shores. The agreement has led to an increase in the interception of boats in the waters off the North African country.

Rights bodies and Mediterranean rescue missions have condemned the deal and questioned how it will protect the vulnerable.

In October 2024, the EU ombudsman said the European Commission did not publish “any information” related to the risks it identified before signing the agreement.

“It is also impossible to overlook, in this context, the deeply disturbing reports that continue to emerge about the human rights situation in Tunisia, notably when it comes to the treatment of migrants,” the Ombudsman said.

[Aljazeera]