Twenty-two die, 42 missing as immigrant boat sinks off Tunisia

TUNIS (AFP) - Twenty-two would-be immigrants drowned and 42 were missing after a boat that was to have carried them across the Mediterranean broke up and sank off the Tunisian coast at the weekend, according to official figures.
The vessel, carrying 75 people in all, sank in the early hours of Sunday, the Tunisian navy said in a statement carried by the official TAP news agency. The vessel was attempting to sail to Italy.
Eyewitnesses said the boat broke in two after it had sailed overnight from a beach in Sousse province, on the country`s eastern coast. The navy said a helicopter, a launch and a ship were sent out to try and find survivors.
"Half an hour after they left, the boat split under the weight of the passengers and broke in two, throwing everybody into the sea," said one witness.
Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali expressed deep concern at attempts at clandestine emigration causing many victims "mainly from brother countries."
He had special talks with the defence and interior ministers following the catastrophe, TAP reported.
"The meeting reviewed the circumstances of this tragic accident and the resources mobilised to search and rescue those missing at sea," the report said.
Ben Ali had reiterated "the need to redouble efforts to combat the phenomenon of illegal crossing of borders."
Calling for measures to prevent clandestine immigration "to save human lives", he also urged "greater coordination between the various agencies involved (coastguard, security forces and military) and stricter checks of persons arriving in Tunisia intending to cross borders illegally."
In January, Tunisian lawmakers passed a law aimed at better fighting clandestine immigration to Europe.
Eleven survivors were either pulled alive from the water by the navy or managed to swim to shore.
Five of those aboard the boat were Tunisian and the remaining 70 Moroccan. Of the 11 survivors, 10 were Moroccans and one a Tunisian.
Meanwhile the weekly Tunis Hebdo newspaper said the people in the boat were part of a group of some 280 who had gathered with the intention of trying to reach Europe.
The paper said that after the sinking of the boat most of the others -- around 200 in all -- were arrested in the region around the town of Nabeul, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital Tunis.
Tunis Hebdo said the non-Tunisians in the group had entered the country legally.
The beach from where the boat sailed was some 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Tunis, between the coastal towns of Hergla and El Kantaoui.
Every year, thousands of people risk their lives by trying to get into southern Europe illegally, mainly by paying middlemen to get them across the Mediterranean on often ramshackle, overcrowded boats.
Many of them set off from Libya, which has a 2,000-kilometer-long (1,200 mile) coastline, or Tunisia, with 1,300 kilometers of coastline.
They often sail towards the Italian island of Lampedusa, which is only some 100 kilometers from the Tunisian coast.
At the weekend, a group of 223 illegal immigrants arrived on Lampedusa and another group of 200 was spotted at sea, port officials said.
New Tunisian legislation has brought existing statutes into line with international conventions on clandestine immigration and allowing closer control of Tunisia`s territorial waters.
It has also set up a system of checks for maritime vessels which could be used to carry would-be immigrants to Europe.
The law allows the authorities to maintain a logbook for every sea-going vessel in the country, from the time it is built until it is scrapped.
Any changes of ownership are supposed to be mentioned in the logbook, giving the authorities greater control over who is trying to acquire a boat and making it easier to determine liability in the event a vessel is used to illegally carry passengers to Europe.
Almost 950 people have drowned since mid-2001 attempting to make the crossing.
Four Tunisian naval launches continued late Monday patrolling the area of the disaster of Chott Mariem although the chances of finding further survivors appeared to have virtually gone.
Monday evening the 22 bodies were in a mortuary at the hospital in Sousse and searches for further bodies were set to continue for several days.
The 11 survivors were placed in the charge of local police at Nabeul, where they were to be questioned as part of an investigation.
The Moroccans aboard, aged between 20 and 30, had paid between 1,500 and 2,000 dinars (1,500-1400 euros/1,300-1,720 dollars) to smugglers who were being hunted Monday.