At least 80 refugees are feared dead after their boat capsized off the coast of Tunisia on Wednesday, BBC reported. Four people were rescued from the vessel, but one later died in hospital.
The three Malians who were rescued told officials they had set out from Zuwara town in Libya. Libya has been in the midst of a civil war since 2011, when its dictator Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed.
Tunisian Red Crescent official Mongi Slim told Reuters said the initial four survivors told the Coast Guard that the boat sank off the coast of Zarzis, a coastal commune in the country. Lorena Lando, head of the International Organization for Migration in Tunisia, said that fishermen rescued four people from the boat on Wednesday night.
The passengers in the vessel were all heading for Europe, Al Jazeera reported. Libya has detained thousands of refugees and migrants in detention camps.
The news comes days after an airstrike killed at least 40 migrants and injured 80 in a detention camp in Tripoli, the capital of Libya.
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