They were trying to reach Italy.
Tunisian maritime authorities rescued 255 migrants overnight from Friday to Saturday.
Among them, 170 came "from sub-Saharan Africa, the rest being Tunisians," said the National Guard in a statement posted on Facebook on Sunday.
The migrants were rescued during 17 attempts with the starting point "the east coast of Tunisia" and the Italian coasts as their destination, according to National Guard spokesman Houcem Eddine Jebabli, quoted in the text.
An unspecified sum in foreign currency was also seized by the authorities, according to the official.
455 migrants already rescued mid-July
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 Eddine Jebabli.
In another press release on Sunday, the Tunisian navy announced the rescue the day before of 22 candidates for illegal emigration, all of Tunisian nationality, including 9 children and 3 women.
They were on a boat which drifted 80 km from the island of Kuriat, opposite Monastir.
On July 18, the Tunisian Coast Guard announced that it had rescued 455 migrants in several operations off the north, east and south coasts of the country.
In spring and summer, thanks to milder weather, the number of attempts to leave for Europe tends to increase.
Italy is one of the main entry points into Europe for migrants from North Africa.
Between January 1 and July 22, 34,000 people arrived by sea in Italy, compared to 25,500 in the same period of 2021, according to the Italian Interior Ministry.
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Italy: More than a thousand migrants disembark in a few hours
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