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A boat carrying at least 86 refugees and migrants capsized off the Tunisian coast and most of them drowned.
Some of the first four survivors said Thursday the Tunisian coastguard that the boat had sank off the city of Zarzis, said a Tunisian Red Crescent official, Mongi Slim, at the Reuters news agency.
Tunisian fishermen fell on the sinking boat and were able to rescue four survivors Wednesday night but could not find any of the other pbadengers, said Lorena Lando, director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Tunisia.
Eighty-two people are still missing in the incident that comes one day after a deadly air attack against a Libyan detention center killed at least 44 migrants.
Sarah Khairat, of the Al Jazeera agency, reporting from a refugee camp in Zarzis where the survivors were brought, said that the ship was heading from western Libya to Thailand. Europe when he capsized. The four survivors were all men – three from Mali and one from Cote d'Ivoire.
The Ivorian national died later and two of the others are in hospital.
Slim told the DPA news agency that the boat had left Libya on Monday.
Earlier this week, another boat from Libya went to the Tunisian port of Sfax with 65 people on board.
Libya is one of the main transit countries for migrants and refugees fleeing war and poverty as they try to reach Europe.
The war-torn country has become a hub for human trafficking networks that often send migrants to Europe aboard ships in poor condition.
According to the IOM, 555 migrants died between January and June this year while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
Last year, there were 924 deaths. The peak was reached in 2016 when 2,911 people died in the pbadage.
Rescue at sea
In addition, a yacht belonging to an Italian charity Mediterranea saved 54 people, including pregnant women and children in distress off the coast of Libya, said Thursday the charity.
"The 54 survivors have been saved and are now on board," tweeted Mediterranea. "Among them 11 women [three pregnant] and 4 children … Happy to have saved 54 lives from the hell of Libya. We now need a safe port. "
Italian far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who attempted to close Italian ports to migrant rescue vessels, quickly tweeted that Mediterranea's 18-meter sailboat, Alex, is expected to transport rescued people in Tunisia.
"Otherwise, we will activate all procedures to prevent Italy from being a port of arrival for human traffickers," Salvini said.
The Italian authorities seized a ship belonging to the German humanitarian group Sea-Watch last week and arrested its captain after he entered the port of Lampedusa in Sicily without authorization, with on board dozens of rescued migrants.
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