Nejib Belhedi wanted to set an example.

After 64 hours and 10 minutes without a break, the Tunisian went ashore on Hammamet beach on Saturday.

While thousands of his compatriots make the life-threatening journey towards Europe every year, the 69-year-old retired lieutenant colonel swam from Italy to Tunisia.

With his action, he wanted to show younger Tunisians in particular that despite all the crises, you can still dream of Tunisia and that there are good reasons to stay in your own country.

Hans Christian Roessler

Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb based in Madrid.

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On Wednesday he left the Italian-Tunisian sea border southeast of the island of Pantelleria.

His destination was Hasdrubal Beach, 155 kilometers away in Hammamet, Tunisia.

The coast guard and civil defense accompanied the Tunisian, who used to belong to the special forces of the Tunisian army.

The Tunisian government and private sponsors support his project.

In Hammamet, the open water swimmer was greeted with applause and the national anthem.

Exhausted but happy, he gasped and shouted "Tounes" (Tunisia).

Nejib Belhedi, who likes to give his press conferences in the water, did not let anything deter him from his dream, neither the pandemic nor health problems.

A year ago he had an artificial hip joint put in.

He had previously survived heart surgery.

In July he will be 70 years old.

He felt well prepared as he had already set several records.

In 1993 he was the first – and to this day only – Tunisian to swim across the English Channel.

He also made it into the Guinness Book of World Records after swimming from his hometown of Sfax to the island of Djerba in 76 hours and 30 minutes in 2018.

This was the longest swim in open water without a break.

He had previously swum the entire 1,400-kilometer coast of Tunisia, pulling ships weighing tons behind him.

But the Mediterranean is dangerous for the inexperienced: dozens of people who set out from Tunisia drowned this year.

Last year, 15,671 migrants tried to reach Italy from Tunisia.

According to the International Organization for Migration, nearly 2,000 migrants went missing or drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in 2021.