At least 46 people have drowned and 67 were rescued off Tunisia’s southern coast, after a boat carrying migrants sank, the country’s defense ministry said, adding that its rescue operation was ongoing. The vessel was packed with about 180 migrants from Tunisia and other African states, the ministry said. A survivor, who had to cling to a piece of wood for nine hours, told Reuters that the captain abandoned the boat as soon as it began sinking, in order to avoid being arrested by the coast guard. Human traffickers have increasingly been using Tunisia as a starting point for migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, after Libya tightened control over its shoreline.
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