Authorities in Tunisia report that 64 people were rescued after their boat ran out of fuel and capsized off the country's eastern Mediterranean coast. The boat is believed to have set sail from Libya.
The Tunisian Navy rescued 64 people off the country's eastern Mediterranean coast on Friday evening (February 28) after their boat had run out of fuel and capsized, the Associated Press reported.
In a statement, the Tunisian authorities said that maritime patrols had carried out the rescue operations and that the passengers were people from different nationalities. No deaths were reported.
Initial findings reportedly suggest that the passengers had set off from an unnamed neighboring country, likely to be Libya.
The rescued passengers were reportedly taken to the port of Chebba, 37 miles (60 kilometers) north of Sfax. The Tunisian port city is a popular take-off point for people who want to attempt to enter Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea. The Tunisian government estimates that last year, around 20,000 people passed through El Amra in the Sfax region.
The number of irregular maritime crossings is significantly lower than the 100,000 attempted boat crossings in 2023.
Read AlsoTunisian authorities claim 20,000 migrants passed through Sfax on way to Europe in 2024
Gateway to Italy
A 2024 survey by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) among 379 people from 23 different African countries showed that an overwhelming 80 percent of those surveyed had set their sights on Italy as their final destination.
The respondents who were mostly from Sudan, Guinea-Conakry, Mauritania, Ethiopia, and Egypt cited repressive regimes and climate change as their main reasons for leaving their countries of origin.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that more than 30,000 people took off from Libya and arrived in Italy in 2024. Approximately 61 percent of those arriving in Italy by sea came from Libya, followed by 32 percent from Tunisia.
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Allegations of collective expulsion
Last year a confidential United Nations briefing seen by Reuters alleged that Tunisian border guards carried out "collective expulsions" where migrants were rounded up and handed over to Libya, where the migrants were subjected to abhorrent conditions that included forced labor and extortion. About 2,000 migrants were said to have been detained and sent to Libya.
Under the European Union and Tunisia Migration Pact of 2023, the EU is providing Tunisia with an estimated 105 million euros (113 million dollars) for border protection, which includes the repatriation of migrants to their countries of origin.
Last month, the British government announced a deal with Tunisia that would target the root cause of migration, smash human smuggling rings, and secure UK borders.
Read AlsoUN alleges Tunisian border guards rounded up migrants and passed them to Libya