Twenty-seven people are dead or missing after two migrant boats sank off the east coast of Tunisia.
Ednews informs via BBC that the first boat left Tunisia for Italy on Friday, with 37 on board. Twenty are missing while 17 have been rescued, a court spokesperson in the city of Sfax said.
On Saturday, four bodies were recovered from a beach after a second boat sank.
Thirty-six people who were on the second boat were rescued and three are missing, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson, Faouzi Masmoudi, said the boats were made of iron sheets.
Since the start of March, there have been at least seven similar shipwrecks off Tunisia, with around 100 people dead or missing.
Parts of the Tunisian coastline are only about 150 kilometres from Lampedusa, an Italian island frequently used as a crossing point to the mainland.
Its proximity to Italy has seen Tunisia overtake Libya as the main departure point for people fleeing conflict and dire poverty in the Middle East and Africa, seeking a better life in Europe.