Tunisia migrant interceptions surge five-fold

TUNIS: Tunisia´s coastguard said on Friday it had intercepted over 14,000 migrants trying to reach Europe from January to March, more than five times the number of those who attempted the trip in the first quarter of 2022.

“Coast guard patrols prevent 501 clandestine attempts to cross the maritime border and rescued 14,406 (migrants) including 13,138 from sub-Saharan African countries,” between January 1 and March 31, it said in a statement.

That is up from 2,532 intercepted in the same period last year, including 1,657 from sub-Saharan Africa, National Guard spokesman Houcem Eddine Jebabli told AFP. “The number is well up, because many more people are trying to leave,” he said.

The vast majority of interceptions took place off the coast of Sfax and Mahdia provinces, whose shores lie just 150 kilometres (90 miles) from the Italian island of Lampedusa.