According to the German assistance organisation ResQship, at least two migrants have perished and about 20 are still missing after their boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea between Tunisia and Italy.
According to Stefen Seyfert of ResQship, the group’s ship, the Nadir, saved 22 more individuals and transported them to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The group described the operation earlier on Sunday on Twitter, claiming that the migrants had been in the sea for almost two hours before they got to the scene of the disaster.
They reported that they had found two bodies in addition to saving 22 persons.
“This is a horrific tragedy that could — and should — have been prevented by a humanitarian approach to migration instead of barb-wiring the European borders,” the group added.
This is just the most recent in a string of tragedies that have occurred in the Mediterranean Sea, where hundreds of migrants trying to cross have perished in the water and hundreds more have needed to be rescued from shoddy boats.
Just about 150 kilometres (90 miles) separate Lampedusa from Tunisia’s coastline.
They are increasingly being utilised as a launching pad for the dangerous migration of people from Sudan, West Africa, and other countries in search of safety and better life in Europe.