In the city of Sfax, Tunisia, Mohammed Lafi, a young taxi owner, decided to take a major risk by crossing the sea in search of a better life in Europe, despite having a decent income and fair prospects by Tunisian standards. Tragically, he was one of 40 people who went missing in January after their boat disappeared en route to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a few hours away from the port of Sfax.
As Tunisia’s economy has struggled in recent years, more young people have sought their fortune in prosperous Italy or France, leading to an increase in deaths, with the Sfax morgue regularly filling with drowned bodies.
“Our situation is normal. My brother didn’t suffer financial problems and he had a car to work with,” said his sister Ines Lafi, still bewildered by her brother’s decision to leave.
Over the last year, the number of missing and dead people off Tunisia’s coast has reached more than 1,300, primarily from sub-Saharan African countries. In January 2024 alone, over 100 people drowned off Tunisia, including 60 Tunisians whose bodies are still missing.
While there were more people crossing the Mediterranean during the 2014-15 migration crisis, the numbers are unprecedented for voyages from Tunisia. This increase has occurred despite a crackdown by Tunisian authorities, with police dismantling smuggling networks and stopping thousands of people onshore and at sea.
Potential migrants are pushed by growing disillusionment among Tunisians about their country’s future and lured by social media stories portraying new European lives as easy and successful.
“Mohammed was influenced by videos on social media that pushed him to sacrifice what he owns here in search of a better quality of life in Europe,” said Ines Lafi.
Last year, a video circulated widely of a 63-year-old man who made the journey with his wife and ten of his children and grandchildren.
Tunisia is suffering from an economic crisis with shortages of basic items, leading to widespread frustration and long queues in shops.
Bereaved families are starting to make their voices heard, holding protests at the poor conditions that they believe drove their loved ones to their deaths at sea and demanding more work to retrieve their bodies.
For months, Mohammed Issaoui has made a daily 120 km (75 mile) journey from his home in Kairouan to Sfax to search hospital morgues and local beaches for news of his brother Montassar who disappeared last year.
Monia Gmati still holds on to hope that her son Sofian somehow survived his crossing to Europe, though she has had no news of him for months.
“My life has turned into hell. I can’t accept the idea that he died. It’s killing me,” she said.
Twenty-one-year-old Sofian had amassed 7,000 dinars ($2,240) to pay for his trip, seeking to make a new life and send money home. But his boat sank, and his body was never found.
“I can’t accept the idea the fish ate him at sea,” she said.
(Reporting by Tarek Amara and Jihed Abidellaoui, editing by Angus McDowall and Ros Russell)
