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February 12, 2024
18:52 pm
17 migrants who set off from the northern coast of Tunisia are missing
Tunisia – AFP
The Tunisian Coast Guard announced, on Monday, the loss of 17 migrants who set out a week ago in an illegal migration operation from the coast of the Tunisian Bizerte Governorate (north).
The official spokesman for the Coast Guard, Houssam Eddine Jebabli, said: “Search operations are continuing for 17 missing migrants who set off last Monday from the coast of Bizerte.” The missing are Tunisians, and “among them is a minor, a father, and a woman,” according to Jebabli.
On Saturday, a number of families of missing persons demonstrated in the center of the city of Bizerte to demand that the authorities search for their children, according to local media reports.
Thirteen Sudanese migrants died and 27 others went missing off the eastern coast of Tunisia, after their boat sank, a judicial spokesman said on Thursday. Monastir Court spokesman Farid Ben Jaha said: 42 migrants set off from the coast of the Jibniana area in Sfax Governorate (east), and two migrants were rescued. All of these were men, and they held asylum cards.
Tunisia, along with Libya, represents the main starting point for thousands of migrants seeking to reach Europe.
As of November 2023, the Tunisian National Guard intercepted 69,963 migrants, compared to 31,297 during the same period in 2022, according to statistics reported earlier by Guard spokesman Houssam Eddine Jebali.
According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 2,498 people died in 2023 in the Mediterranean while trying to reach European coasts illegally, an increase of 70% over the previous year.
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2024-02-12 14:52:01