12 Tunisians drowned as boat capsized off Sabratha shores

12 Tunisian nationals drowned on Friday when their boat capsized off Sabratha shores, 70km away from Tripoli as they were risking a sea trip to Europe across the Mediterranean, Tunisian medical sources reported.

The Head of Ben Gardane Hospital in Tunisia told France Press that they received 12 bodies on Saturday and all of them were identified as residents of the city and they were handed to their families for burial, adding that two more drowned bodies are to arrive at the hospital later on Saturday.

It is worth mentioning that on July 2nd, 28 Tunisians drowned as their shaky boat capsized off Sabratha shores as well one hour after they sailed towards Italy. The majority of the 28 guys were from Ben Gardane city as well.

Ben Gardane is a city at the border of Ras Ajdair that connects Libya to Tunisia.

On the other hand, according to the Head of the Tunisian Red Crescent in Madnine district, Munji Saleem, 11 Tunisian nationals survived the drowning incident and returned to Ben Gardane via Ras Ajdair border with Libya.

Sources added that each of the Ben Gardane men, who were between 20 and 30, paid 800 dinars to a Libyan human smuggler to make the deadly journey to Europe across the Mediterranean, reported a local Tunisian source.