Forty migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa were found dead on Wednesday following a shipwreck off Tunisia while 30 were rescued, a judicial spokesperson told AFP.

"Initial investigations indicate that there were 70 people on board the vessel," said Walid Chtabri, spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office in Mahdia.

"Forty bodies, including infants, were recovered, and 30 people were rescued," Chtabri added. "They were all from countries in Sub-Saharan Africa."

Tunisia, whose coast is some 145 kilometres from the Italian island of Lampedusa, is a key transit country for thousands of African migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea each year.

Dangerous route

More than 55,000 irregular migrants have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, according to the UN Refugee Agency's latest figures.

The majority of them had departed from Libya, while nearly 4,000 left from Tunisia, the agency said.

The central Mediterranean route is considered particularly dangerous, with 32,803 people dead or missing since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

With the European Union's mounting efforts to curb migrant arrivals, many irregular migrants feel stranded in Tunisia.

Voluntary returns

In 2023, Tunisia signed a 255-million-euro ($290 million) deal with the European Union, nearly half of which was earmarked for tackling irregular migration.

Tunisian President Kais Saied earlier this year called on the IOM to accelerate voluntary returns for irregular migrants to their home countries.