Tunisia: 255 migrants trying to reach Italy were rescued overnight

Europe 1 with AFP 3:40 p.m., August 07, 2022

Tunisian maritime authorities rescued 255 migrants during 17 attempts to emigrate to Italy overnight from Friday to Saturday, the national guard said on Sunday.

The rescues of the 255 candidates for emigration, "including 170 from sub-Saharan Africa, the rest being Tunisians, took place on the night of August 5 to 6", according to the press release published on Facebook.

Italy as a destination

The 17 attempts thwarted by the coast guard patrols had as their starting point "the east coast of Tunisia" and as their destination, the Italian coasts, according to the spokesman for the national guard Houcem Eddine Jebabli, quoted in the press release.

An unspecified sum in foreign currency was seized by authorities, according to the official.

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 Houcem Eddine Jebabli.

34,000 arrivals in Italy since the start of the year

On July 18, the Tunisian Coast Guard announced that it had rescued 455 migrants, including 289 from sub-Saharan Africa and the rest Tunisians, in several operations off the north, east and south coasts of the country.

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 again in the last two years. .

Between January 1 and July 22, 2022, 34,000 people arrived by sea in Italy, compared to 25,500 in the same period of 2021 and 10,900 in 2020, according to the Italian Interior Ministry.