PostedAugust 7, 2022, 3:37 PM
Migration crisisIn one night, 255 migrants were rescued off Tunisia
Between Friday and Saturday, the Tunisian maritime authorities intervened in 17 attempts to emigrate to Italy. Most of the survivors were from sub-Saharan Africa.
On July 23, the NGO Sea-Watch had already rescued an inflatable boat adrift in the Mediterranean with 120 people on board.
AFP/Sea-Watch/NORA BORDING
Tunisian maritime authorities rescued 255 migrants during 17 attempts to emigrate to Italy overnight from Friday to Saturday, the national guard said on Sunday. Among the candidates for emigration, 170 came from sub-Saharan Africa, the rest being Tunisians. An unspecified sum in foreign currency was seized by the authorities, said National Guard spokesman Houcem Eddine Jebabli, quoted in a statement posted on Facebook.
As of Friday, the national guard had arrested “in a preventive operation” five individuals who “were preparing to carry out an illegal immigration operation from the coast of the province of Sousse, in the east of the country”, added the spokesperson.
The summer weather favors crossing attempts
On July 18, the Tunisian Coast Guard announced that it had rescued 455 migrants – 289 from sub-Saharan Africa and the rest Tunisians – in several operations off the country’s north, east and south coasts. In spring and summer, thanks to milder weather, the number of illegal emigration attempts by Tunisians and other sub-Saharan African countries to Europe tends to increase.
Italy is one of the main entry points into Europe for migrants from North Africa, arriving mainly from Tunisia and Libya, two countries from which departures have started to rise sharply once more in the last two years. . Between January 1 and July 22, 2022, 34,000 people arrived by sea in Italy, compared to 25,500 over the same period of 2021 and 10,900 in 2020, according to the Italian Interior Ministry.
(AFP)
