THE GUARDIAN
More than 900 migrants have drowned off Tunisia’s coast so far this year as they tried to reach Europe by boat, the North African country’s government said Thursday.
The interior ministry said 901 bodies had been recovered by July 20 following maritime accidents in the Mediterranean Sea.
Tunisia has become a major gateway for irregular migrants and asylum-seekers attempting the perilous sea voyages in often rickety boats in the hopes of a better life in Europe.
The distance between Tunisia’s second city of Sfax and Italy’s Lampedusa island is about 130 kilometres (80 miles).
National Guard spokesman Houcem Eddine Jebabli earlier reported that almost 800 migrants had died by late June, and that more than 34,000 had been intercepted and rescued, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa.
Coastguard units had carried out over 1,300 operations — more than double the number of missions for the same period last year.
The interior ministry said over 550 “organisers and intermediaries” of human trafficking operations had been arrested so far this year.
The Italian government says that more than 80,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean to arrive on its shores so far this year, mostly from Tunisia and war-scarred Libya.
