Aid groups say at least 17 migrants from Bangladesh drowned and more than 300 were rescued by Tunisian and Libyan naval units after their boat sank in the Mediterranean.
Survivors said all those who died had been in the hold of the boat because they had paid smugglers less than others, and were suffocated by smoke when the engine caught fire, according to Mongi Slim, head of the Tunisian Red Crescent.
The boat initially had around 400 migrants on board, 200 of whom were picked up by units of the Libyan navy, Slim said. The boat left last Monday night off the coast of Zouara, Libya, with the aim of reaching Europe, and sank off the Tunisian port of Zarzis, Slim said.Libya’s coast guard intercepted Wednesday four boats in the Mediterranean Sea carrying migrants trying to reach Europe, a U.N. official said. According to the migrants, 20 people from one of the vessels had gone overboard earlier in the day and were presumed to have drowned.
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