Two Dead, Six Missing After Migrant Shipwreck off Tunisia
At least two people, including a child, died and six others were reported missing after a migrant shipwreck near Tunisia’s Gulf of Gabes, according to Sea-Watch.
At least two people, including a child, have died and six others are missing after a shipwreck involving migrants off Tunisia’s coast, Sea-Watch said.
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The incident occurred near the Gulf of Gabes. Sea-Watch rescuers said the missing included three children from one family, based on accounts from survivors. It remains unclear whether the body of the recovered child was one of those missing.
Five survivors found at sea
The Aurora, a European Civil Society rescue ship operated by Sea-Watch, reached a deflated rubber dinghy at about 4 a.m. Rescuers found five survivors and two bodies aboard the vessel.
The crew distributed life jackets and brought the survivors aboard the Aurora. The people rescued included migrants and refugees from Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Pakistan and Nigeria.
A further 23 survivors reached the Hasdrubal gas platform, located about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Tunisian coast. A toddler and five women were among those who reached the platform.
The identities of those who died, those still missing and the survivors have not been provided. The cause of the shipwreck is also unclear, as is the exact number of people who were originally aboard the boat.
Disembarkation planned in Lampedusa
The Aurora was assigned Lampedusa as its disembarkation port and was expected to arrive there on Tuesday afternoon. The available information does not confirm whether the ship reached the Italian island.
It is also unclear when the boat began its journey or whether it departed from Tunisia or Libya.
Central Mediterranean crossings
Figures cited from the United Nations’ International Organisation for Migration show that 21,897 people crossed the central Mediterranean Sea from the beginning of 2026, while 997 people died during the period.
During the comparable period in 2025, more than 49,000 people arrived by sea and 855 migrants died while attempting to cross the central Mediterranean, according to the same organisation.
The latest shipwreck adds to the continuing risks faced by migrants and refugees attempting to travel across the central Mediterranean toward Europe.
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