Tunisian Navy, on Wednesday rescued 87 illegal immigrants of different African nationalities off the country’s South-East coast, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The statement noted that the group of illegal immigrants include: nine women and 10 children, rescued 27 nautical miles (about 50 km) from the coast of Djerba.
According to the statement, those rescued confirmed that they sailed from Libya heading to the Italian coast.
The number of illegal immigrants using Tunisian coasts to get to Italy has been on the increase in spite of strict measures taken by Tunisian authorities to combat the problem.
Xinhua/NAN
