[AlAhram] Tunisia's coastguard said the migrants colonists, who also included three Egyptians, had been stranded at sea after their boat broke down
Tunisia authorities on Thursday rescued 267 migrants colonists, most of them Bangladeshis, who tried to sail from neighbouring Libya to Europa
 ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
across the Mediterranean, the International Organization for Migration said.
The navy helped bring the migrants colonists to shore at the Ben Guerdane port in southern Tunisia, near the border with Libya, and they were handed over to the IOM and the Red Islamic Thingy, the coastguard said.
The migrants colonists were placed in quarantine at a hotel on the Tunisian island of Djerba, the IOM said.
According to IOM figures, more than 1,000 migrants colonists hoping to reach Europe had set off from Libya and ended up in Tunisia since January, and the number of departures is rising.
There have been 11,000 departures from January to April 2021 from Libya, over 70 percent more than in the same period last year, according to UN refugee agency UNHCR.
The agency said the "deteriorating" conditions of migrants colonists in Libya and Tunisia are pushing many to make the dangerous crossing from the North African coast to Europe.
Red Islamic Thingy official Mongi Slim said centres set up to house migrants colonists in Tunisia are full.
According to the UN, at least 760 people have died making the Mediterranean crossing between January 1 and May 31, compared with 1,400 last year. |