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TUNIS: The Tunisian navy has rescued 487 migrants, including several Pakistanis, from an overloaded boat that ran into difficulty in rough seas in the Mediterranean as they tried to reach Europe, the country’s ministry said.
According to a statement issued on Friday night, the vessel was carrying migrants from Egypt, Syria, Sudan, Pakistan, Ethiopia and the Palestinian territories. The navy said they included 13 women and 93 children.
The vessel had set off from neighboring Libya and was heading towards Europe when it was intercepted off the Tunisian city of Sfax, it said. The ministry published photos of a vessel carrying dozens of people, with many others swimming next to it.
In recent months, several drowning incidents have occurred off Tunisia, with an increase in the frequency of attempted crossings from Tunisia and Libya towards Italy.
Hundreds of thousands of people have made the perilous Mediterranean crossing in recent years, many of them fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The migrants were taken to the port of El Kitf in Ben Guerdane.
Earlier that month, four Tunisian migrants died and 19 others went missing after their boat capsized. While it does not suffer the lawlessness of Libya, Tunisia is another key departure point for migrants hoping to reach Europe. The Italian island of Lampedusa is located just 140 kilometers (less than 90 miles) from Tunisian shores.
