TUNIS: Almost eight hundred irregular migrants drowned off Tunisia coast in the first half of the current year as they tried to reach Europe by boat.
According to National Guard spokesman Houcem Eddine Jebabli told AFP on Thursday that they recovered 789 bodies of migrants from the sea, including 102 Tunisians, the others foreigners, and unidentified people, while more than 34,000 migrants were rescued, AFP reported.
Tunisia has become a bigger gateway for asylum-seekers and irregular migrants attempting the perilous voyage in often rickety boats in the hope of finding a better life in Europe.
The distance between Tunisia and the Italian island of Lampedusa is nearly 130 kilometers, and the sea voyages increase in the summer months.
Migrants Rescued
From 1 January to 20 June, 34,290 migrants were intercepted and rescued, increasingly up from 9,217 over the corresponding period of 2022, Jebabli said.
Over 30,000 of those rescued this year were foreigners, mostly hailed from sub-Saharan Africa, he said.
Coastguard units conducted 1,310 operations in the first 6 months, more than double the number of missions for the same period last year.
Italy says that over 80,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean Sea to touch its shores so far this year, mostly from Tunisia and war-hit Libya.
