BAt least 19 migrants from southern Africa have died trying to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia by boat to Italy, according to a human rights group. Five people were rescued by the Tunisian Coast Guard, Ramadan Ben Omar of the Forum for Social and Economic Rights (FTDES) told Reuters. Tunisian authorities were not immediately available for comment.
According to the Tunisian coast guard, in the past four days alone around 80 boats have been prevented from crossing to Italy and arrested more than 3,000 migrants, mainly from African countries south of the Sahara. The latest accident came amid a wave of arrests by Tunisian authorities of undocumented Africans from those countries.
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