Overview
- Tunisian authorities say 40 bodies, including women and small children, were recovered and 30 people were pulled from the water after the wreck was found off Mahdia.
- Officials confirm about 70 people were on board and all were from countries south of the Sahara.
- The Mahdia prosecutor has opened a judicial inquiry, and investigators are still determining when the vessel sank and its exact point of departure.
- UN agencies report more than 55,000 arrivals to Italy this year and over 32,800 dead or missing on the central Mediterranean route since 2014.
- Local reporting, citing justice sources, says smugglers launched a nine-metre metal boat near Salakta around midnight and that it capsized within minutes after becoming unstable from overloading.