At least 48 migrants have drowned after their boat sank off the southern coast of Tunisia. According to the Tunisian defence ministry, the rescue operations are underway.

More than 60 migrants have been rescued so far by the coastguards. "The coastguard and the navy continue their search with the support of a military plane," Al-Jazeera quoted the Tunisian interior ministry as saying in a statement.

A survivor recounted the horror saying that the boat had around 180 migrants which sank due to a leak, adding that the boat measured at least nine metres long. Another survivor claimed when the ship started sinking, the captain abandoned the vessel to escape arrest. "I survived by clinging to wood for nine hours," the second survivor said at a hospital in Sfax in southern Tunisia, where dozens of people are looking for their near and dear ones.

Security officials later confirmed that the ship had around 180 migrants on board, with 80 of them hailing from African countries. Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) migration agency, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said there were over 70 survivors from the shipwreck.

IOM Spokesperson Flavio Di Giacomo warned that the final number of the migrants missing was still unknown, as per the report. The latest incident of shipwreck comes after at least 90 migrants were feared drowned off the coast of Libya after their boat capsized in February this year.

Human traffickers are increasingly using Tunisia’s coast as a launch pad for migrants heading to Europe as Libya's coastguard, aided by armed groups, has tightened controls. In recent years, hundreds of thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have been rescued from the Mediterranean Sea. They seek to reach Europe to escape armed conflicts in their respective countries and earn a livelihood.

According to data provided by the IOM on its website, 32,080 people had reached Europe by sea so far in 2018, while 660 others had died while attempting to cross the continent.

Unemployed Tunisians and other Africans often try to depart in makeshift boats from Tunisia to Sicily in Italy. Even as news comes of the sinking, Italy’s new government wants to shut down its refugee centres in Sicily as Italy is bearing the full force of migrant landings. Italy is the main destination for migrants crossing from North Africa to Europe, although numbers have fallen in recent months. (With Agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 04, 2018 05:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).