Tunis: At least two migrants died and 21 disappeared after their boat was reversed Sunday from Tunisia beach in the Mediterranean Sea, Tunisian officials said.
Seven others were saved.
According to a spokesman in the court in Mahdia, Tunisian Port, the coast guard was warned by a survivor.
Ferid Ben Jha told the Associated Press that all 30 on-board migrants were Tunisian residents who wanted to cross the Mediterranean and reach Italy.
He said the prosecutor had opened a criminal investigation into human smuggling.
A coast guard official, who spoke on anonymous requirements because he was not allowed to speak in public, the shipwreck said it was possible because the weather was bad and the boat was too small, with an estimated capacity of only six people.
Some Tunisian ships involved weeks in sustainable search and rescue operations at sea, he said.