Tunisia coastguard rescues 48 migrants from sinking boat

TUNIS: Tunisia’s coastguard has rescued 48 Tunisian migrants whose boat began sinking as they tried to reach Italy by sea, the interior ministry said on Saturday.

A patrol spotted the vessel on Friday night off Jebeniana, 210 kilometres south of Tunis.

The nine-metre craft "was sinking after taking on water", the ministry said in a statement.

The passengers were all Tunisians aged 16 to 40, from the governorates of Medenine and Sfax, it added.

Tunisians regularly try to cross the Mediterranean to seek a better future in Europe, but departures peaked last September. According to NGOs, the uptick reflected frustration among young people hard hit by unemployment. In October, a collision between a migrant boat and a Tunisian military ship left at least 44 dead, in what Prime Minister Youssef Chahed called a "national disaster".