Migrants from Africa were in the first boat. The local coastguard has not yet said anything about the origin of the occupants of the second boat, but most migrants who want to make the dangerous crossing to Italy come from sub-Saharan Africa.
More accidents
In the past four days, five boats carrying people en route to Italy from Sfax, a city in eastern Tunisia, have sunk. Dozens of people are still missing.
Sfax is often used as a starting point for the crossing to Italy. The Italian island of Lampedusa is 185 kilometers away.
More than eighty boats have been stopped in recent days. More than 3,000 migrants have been arrested for trying to cross illegally to Italy, mainly from central and southern Africa.
This year, at least 12,000 people are said to have gone to Italy via Tunisia, according to data from the United Nations. In the same period last year, there were about 1300 migrants.
