The incident occurred while migrants were trying to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, amid a sharp rise in migrant boats sailing from Tunisia.
Fawzi Al-Masmoudi, a judge at the Sfax court, told Reuters that the Coast Guard had rescued 152 others off the coast of the city of Sfax in southern Tunisia.
The European Union proposed this month to “strengthen the partnership” with Tunisia through a program that includes long-term financial assistance of 900 million euros and an additional aid of 150 million to be pumped “immediately” into the budget.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that she proposed to President Kais Saied a five-point program that includes support for combating clandestine immigration.
She expressed her hope that an agreement would be signed between Tunisia and the European Union by the next European summit, which is supposed to be held at the end of this month.
The five points proposed by the European Union provide for increased investment in Tunisia, especially in supporting the digital sector, investments in Tunisia’s export of renewable energies and the expansion of the student exchange program (Erasmus).
One of Brussels’ proposals relates to combating the “disgraceful acts” of clandestine immigration, for which the European Union will provide Tunisia “this year 100 million euros to monitor its borders and search for and rescue migrants,” according to von der Leyen.
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