Tunisia sees protests after migrant boat sinking kills eight

Eleven bodies of Tunisian migrants have been recovered from a sinking boat off Tunisia's coast, according to the country's coastguard. Three individuals remain missing, and a rescue operation involving coastguard, military, and civil protection teams, along with two helicopters, continues. The boat, carrying 15 mostly young migrants, set out early Thursday and sank off the Tunisian coast.

Only one survivor has been found, who claimed he drifted in the sea for 48 hours before being rescued by a commercial vessel. Among those on board were seven family members and a man with his pregnant wife, according to the head of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights. The migrants hailed from the Ben Guerdane area in southeastern Tunisia.

Protesters gathered in a nearby town to demand expedited search efforts, but police used tear gas to disperse them. The central Mediterranean route is notorious for being one of the world's deadliest migration paths, used by migrants from Africa and the Middle East seeking a better life in Europe, often in perilous conditions. Human rights groups have criticized a migration agreement between Tunisia and the European Union, alleging it has led to serious abuses against migrants and asylum seekers in Tunisia, and have urged the EU to halt funding for migration and border-control activities involving Tunisian security forces.