Sfax: Two boats carrying migrants sank in the Mediterranean, and the Tunisian coast guard found the body of a young child believed to have drowned at sea, according to an AFP reporter.

According to the journalist who was with the coast guard, the child's body, which was dressed in a pink jumpsuit and a grey wool cap, was found during a patrol off the coast of Sfax, Tunisia's second-largest city.

According to the coast guard conducting the operation, the child was most likely from Cameroon because more than 200 Cameroonians had been saved in the previous two days.

Also Read: 50 Daesh terrorists and 168 family members were returned to Iraq from Syria

After two boats sank earlier in the week, it was thought that the mother of the child was among those still missing.

Nevertheless, when contacted by AFP, the Cameroonian Embassy in Tunis was unable to confirm this information.

In the meantime, two boats carrying migrants from sub-Saharan Africa capsized off the coast of Sfax on Wednesday, according to a local court spokesman, Faouzi Masmoudi.

Also Read:  Three tugboats are sent by Egypt to tow an oil tanker after it breaks down in the Suez Canal

According to him, the first boat contained six fatalities and 39 rescues, while the second boat contained 12 rescues and 41 unaccounted-for persons.
Masmoudi added that it was unclear which of the boats the kid had been riding.

For many years, migrants who attempt the dangerous sea journey from North Africa to Europe have used Tunisia as their preferred starting point. Tunisia's coastline is less than 150 km from the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Since President Kais Saied delivered a fiery speech on February 21 in which he claimed that illegal immigration posed a demographic threat to Tunisia, the flow of migrants from that country has increased.

Also Read:  Rare joint naval operation by the US and Canadian navies through the Taiwan Strait

With spiralling inflation and persistently high unemployment, the nation is gripped by a protracted socio-economic crisis that is driving some of its citizens to look for better lives abroad.

Authorities detained an alleged smuggler in Sfax on May 26. He was sought in relation to the drowning deaths of 20 Tunisian migrants off the coast of Chebba in September.