[AFRICANEWS] Five Tunisian migrants colonists are dead and seven other people are missing after the sinking of a makeshift boat that left the coast of Sfax in central-eastern Tunisia on Monday, AFP learned from judicial sources.
"The wooden boat" on which "35 people, mostly Tunisians" had embarked, including women and kiddies, capsized "shortly after its departure", Faouzi Masmoudi, a porter, told AFP. word of the court of Sfax, specifying that "23 people were rescued".
"A child and two women are among those who died," he added. According to him, "the shipwreck occurred less than an hour after departure, from Sidi Mansour", a locality north of Sfax, known as a starting point for clandestine crossings.
Sfax, Tunisia's second city, has since the beginning of the year become the epicenter of attempts to illegally cross the Mediterranean from the Tunisian coasts, located, at the closest point, less than 130 km from the island. Italian from Lampedusa.
The Sfax court has opened an investigation to determine the causes of the accident. "It is possible that the boat was carrying a small number of nationals from sub-Saharan Africa and that they are among the missing," said the front man, stressing that the search for possible survivors is continuing.
Another shipwreck had already taken place in the night from Friday to Saturday just 120 m from the coast, in Gabès, a port city located about 150 km south of Sfax.
A 20-year-old Tunisian died in this tragedy as well as an infant whose parents are among the 13 people rescued, all of Tunisian nationality. Five other Tunisians are still missing. 
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