No less than 42 lives were lost in a single day as maritime tragedies hit Africa in the North and South.

In one of the two incidents, Tunisian officials said that 25 people are now known to have died after their boat was wrecked off the port city of Sfax on Wednesday.

Seventy-two of the 110 onboard were rescued.

Several are missing.

All of them were from sub-Saharan Africa.

Tunisia has taken over from Libya as the main departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East.

The BBC  quotes the Tunisian National Guard as saying that 14,000 migrants have been rescued in the first three months of this year – five times more than in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, 17 people, including three children, are reportedly missing after a boat they were using capsized in a river on Wednesday in central Malawi.

Police said that lthe group of 22 people was crossing the Rusa River while heading to a funeral ceremony in Mchinji district.

Five people managed to swim ashore.

According to the  BBC, a local Police Commander, John Nkhoma, told Zodiak Online news website that the boat was small for that number of passengers.

More rescuers were on Thursday expected to start a search mission for the missing people.

Meanwhile, authorities in the district are advising community members to avoid sailing in flooded rivers.

Malawi is recovering from a devastating tropical storm last month that killed 511 people and left 533 others missing.