Tunisia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that the refugees were of Tunisian and other nationalities, adding that the rescue operation was still ongoing in the Mediterranean.
Some 180 refugees, including 80 from other African countries had been travelling on the packed boast when it sank, security sources said.
The deaths are the latest to come from a refugee crisis that has gripped countries on various sides of the Mediterranean.
Nine people including six children died on Sunday near
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
’s southern province of Antalya after a speedboat carrying 15 refugees sank off the coast.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is affiliated to the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
, estimates that 660 had died attempting to cross into Europe
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...through the Mediterranean since the start of this year.
Tunisia has become a major embarkation point for refugees from Africa who seek to reach southern coasts of Italia.
Many have died over the past years while taking the risky journey from neighboring Libya to the Italian coast. However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
the flow from Libya ebbed after the former government of Italia, backed by the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing..., reached an agreement with the militia and government of the North African country to contain the departures.
A new government in Italia is now trying to further reduce the number of arrivals. New interior minister Matteo Salvini, who leads Italia’s the anti-immigrant League party, has vowed to deport up to 100,000 refugees per year while doing his best to block the arrival of boats carrying refugees from Africa.