40 migrants, including infants, die in boat sinking off Tunisia

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Forty people, including infants, died when a boat carrying migrants seeking to reach Europe sank Wednesday off the coast of Tunisia, according to local judicial authorities. Around 30 others were rescued.

Tunisian naval units that arrived on the scene rescued 30 other migrants on board the boat, which sank off the Mediterranean port of Mahdia in central Tunisia, Mahdia court spokesman Walid Charbi said.

Charbi said those aboard were from sub-Saharan Africa, without providing further details.

The prosecutor’s office has ordered an investigation to determine the causes and circumstances of the sinking, Charbi said.

Mahdia is Tunisia’s second-biggest port of call for departures of boats carrying people from Tunisia and elsewhere in Africa as well as Asia seeking to reach Europe.

Tunisian security forces have ramped up efforts to prevent migrants from reaching or crossing the sea — a journey that can be deadly.