35 still missing as death toll from migrant shipwreck off Tunisia rises to 25

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Sunday the death toll from a Migrant shipwreck off Tunisia at the weekend rose to 25, amid fears that 35 others in the same boat have drowned.

It said the vessel was on Friday carrying 60 migrants, most of them from Syria and Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy.

In recent months, several people have drowned off the Tunisian coast, with an increase in the frequency of attempted crossings to Europe from Tunisia and Libya towards Italy.

Hundreds of thousands of people have made the perilous Mediterranean crossing in recent years, many of them fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.