TUNIS: Forty migrants from Africa were found dead on Wednesday following a shipwreck off Tunisia while 30 were rescued, a judicial spokesman told AFP. "Initial investigations indicate that there were 70 people on board the vessel," said Walid Chtabri, spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Mahdia.

"Forty bodies, including infants, were recovered, and 30 people were rescued," Chtabri added.

Tunisia, whose coast is some 145 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa, serves as a key transit country for thousands of African migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea annually.

Over 55,000 irregular migrants have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, according to the UN Refugee Agency’s latest figures.

The majority of them had departed from Libya, while nearly 4,000 left from Tunisia, the agency said.

The central Mediterranean route is considered particularly dangerous, with 32,803 people dead or missing since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

With the European Union’s efforts to curb migrant arrivals, many irregular migrants feel stranded in Tunisia.

In 2023, Tunisia signed a 255-million-euro ($290 million) deal with the European Union, nearly half of which was earmarked for tackling irregular migration.

The deal aimed to bolster Tunisia’s capacity to prevent boats from leaving its shores.

Tunisian President Kais Saied earlier this year called on the IOM to accelerate voluntary returns for irregular migrants to their home countries.