Tunisia rescues 487 migrants in crowded boat off its coast

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia’s defence ministry said 487 migrants, including 93 children, were rescued Friday disconnected the North African country’s seashore arsenic they tried to transverse the Mediterranean Sea to Europe successful an overloaded boat.

The ministry said successful a connection that the vas had near from neighboring Libya carrying migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

The rescue cognition was led by a Tunisian patrol vessel and ships from the country’s navy and nationalist defender adjacent the land of Kerkennah, disconnected the metropolis of Sfax.

Amid the migrants were 162 Egyptians, 104 Bangladeshis, 81 Syrians, 78 Moroccans and others from Pakistan, the Palestinian territories and respective African sub-Saharan countries, the ministry connection said.

This twelvemonth alone, United Nations officials estimation that 1,600 radical person died oregon gone missing successful the Mediterranean, the main gateway to Europe for migrants trying to participate the continent with the assistance of quality smugglers.

The busiest and deadliest migrant way to Europe is the cardinal Mediterranean, wherever radical question successful crowded boats from Libya and Tunisia — and successful immoderate cases each the mode from Turkey — toward Italy. About 60,000 radical person arrived successful Italy by oversea this year, and immoderate 1,200 person died oregon disappeared connected the journey, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

___

Follow AP’s planetary migration sum astatine https://apnews.com/hub/migration