According to local judicial courts, forty people, including infants, died when a boat carrying migrants to reach Europe sank on 22nd October off the coast of Tunisia. Around 30 others were rescued.
Mahdia court spokesman Walid Charbi said that Tunisian naval forces, who came to the rescue, saved 30 other migrants aboard the ship that had sunk in the Mediterranean off the port of Mahdia in central Tunisia.
Charbi replied that they are sub-Saharan Africans.
Charbi said the office of the prosecutor has commissioned an investigation to find out the causes and circumstances of the sinking.
Mahdia is the second-largest port of call for departures of boats that transport a number of people between Tunisia and other parts of Africa, as well as Asia, in their quest to reach Europe.
The security agencies of Tunisia have increased their attempts to ward off the migrants, who may reach or cross the sea, as it is a fatal journey.
