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A Tunisian court has sentenced five people to prison for organising an illegal migrant sea crossing that resulted in 18 deaths or disappearances, a spokesman said Friday.

The boat carrying the migrants, all Tunisians, went missing off the coast of the southeastern city of Zarzis during an attempt to reach Italy in September 2022.

The five Tunisian defendants, including two still at large, received prison terms ranging from four to 10 years on Thursday night, said Lassad Horr, spokesman for the Medenine court.

The incident sparked protests and a general strike in Zarzis. President Kais Saied later ordered an investigation to uncover what happened.

The court spokesman said Friday that a boat, two cars and a GPS device had been seized as part of the investigation.

Tunisia and neighbouring Libya are major departure points for migrants attempting perilous sea crossings to Europe.

Each year, tens of thousands of migrants - mainly Sub-Saharan Africans - attempt to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia, whose shores are about 150 kilometres (90 miles) from the Italian island of Lampedusa.

On May 19, the Tunisian National Guard said 23 people had been missing for two weeks off Nabeul in the northeast. On May 29, four others disappeared off Mahdia on the central coast, while 17 were rescued.

More than 1,300 people died or went missing last year in shipwrecks off the North African country, according to the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights, a non-governmental organisation.

The International Organization for Migration has said more than 27,000 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in the past decade, including more than 3,000 last year.