Boat capsize in Mediterranean: Most of nine dead migrants are Bangladeshis

Most of the nine migrants, who were found dead in a vessel off the Tunisian coast on Thursday, are Bangladeshi nationals, the Bangladesh Embassy in Libya said on Saturday.

In a Facebook post, the mission said it had learnt about the deceased from various sources and was reading a team to send to Tunisia to verify and collect detailed information about them.

According to the Facebook post, the Tunisian coastguard rescued 43 migrants from the vessel and 26 of them were found to be Bangladeshis. One of them was in critical condition.

An AFP report ran by Arab News says the Tunisian coast guard found nine migrants dead on Thursday aboard a vessel drifting in the Mediterranean off the southern port of Zarzis.

The boat, carrying more than 50 passengers of various nationalities, had "sustained damage caused by water getting in," the National Guard said in a statement.

Tunisian media said the boat had set sail for Europe from neighboring Libya, according to the report.

The provincial prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into the death, spokesperson Lassad Horr told AFP.

"They likely died after being overwhelmed by the fuel fumes at the bottom of the boat," Horr said.

The passengers, all men, came from countries including Bangladesh, Egypt, Pakistan, and Syria, he added.