TUNIS, Sept 18, 2012 (AFP)
TUNIS, Sept 18, 2012 (AFP)
Tunisia’s coastguard on Tuesday intercepted a boat with 139 people on board trying to reach Italy illegally, official media reported, just days after dozens of Tunisians died when their boat sank off the Italian coast.
The majority of those picked up where from southern Tunisia, the TAP news agency said, adding that the operation was carried out by a coastguard unit from the southern island of Djerba, but giving no further details.
On September 7, an ageing 10-metre (33-foot) fishing vessel loaded with over 100 Tunisian migrants sank off the coast of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, with only 56 people rescued.
Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki was due to travel to the island on Tuesday to collect them, his office said.
The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights estimates that some 40,000 Tunisians have emigrated illegally since last year’s revolution swept Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power.
The Italian government said last week that it has seen a drastic reduction in the number of immigrants washing up on its shores, in part thanks to a deal with north African countries to prevent boat departures.
Also on Tuesday, in neighbouring Algeria, the coastguard stopped a boat carrying 16 people to Europe without visas, the official APS news agency reported, citing a security source.
The passengers, between 20 and 33 years old and all from the eastern city of Annaba, just 30 miles (50 kilometres) from the Tunisian border, will be tried for attempting to emigrate illegally, the same source said.
Each year, thousands of illegal migrants attempt to cross the Mediterranean from north Africa in often overcrowded and unseaworthy vessels in a bid to reach the European Union.
