The boat, which departed from Sfax, Tunisia, capsized and sank after a few hours.    (File/AP)

Tunis, August 15 (RHC)-- The death toll from a migrant shipwreck off Tunisia’s coast has risen to at least 41, including three children.  The ship capsized and sank just a few hours after departing for Europe. Dozens are still missing from another shipwreck near the Tunisian port city of Sfax.

The number of asylum seekers fleeing from Tunisia has dramatically increased in recent months due to the persecution of Black Africans by Tunisian authorities and President Kais Saied.  At least 27 people were found dead in the desert near the Tunisian-Libyan border after they were expelled from Tunisia. 

Tafaul Omar, a pregnant asylum seeker who was expelled from Tunisia told reporters: “I was in Tunisia. My husband is a day laborer. We wanted to go to Italy, and there was beating and insults. After that, two days ago, they took us to the borders. The following day, after we reached the borders, they took us, beat the men and left us. We walked on the road toward Libya, but we don’t know the direction.  We walked for three, four hours.  Then the Libyan police found us.”