Thirteen Sudanese asylum seekers died and 27 others are missing in the Mediterranean after their boat capsized near the coast of Tunisia.
A court spokesman said only two migrants were rescued out of 42 passengers on a boat made of scrap metal that departed from the town of Jebiniana.
A search for the missing asylum seekers is underway. The passengers were all from Sudan and had registered with the United Nations refugee agency.
Tunisian authorities intercepted 69,963 migrants during the initial 11 months of 2023 and more than 2,270 people perished in attempts to cross the Mediterranean the same year.
Tunisia and Libya are the main countries of departure for Europe.
