Tunisia.. 12 migrants drowned off while trying to pass the Mediterranean

Baghdad-INA  

A Tunisian organization has recorded the growing problem of migration from the country across the Mediterranean, with 12 drowning deaths recorded within a week.

The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights confirmed the arrival of more than 13,000 Tunisian immigrants to the Italian coasts, including 2,635 minors, since the beginning of this year.

From January to September 12, 2022, 13,449 Tunisian immigrants arrived in Italy, compared to (11042) who arrived during the same period in 2021, according to statistics presented by the Forum in a press conference. Among the arrivals were 624 women and 2,635 minors, as well as 1,822 unaccompanied minors, according to the organization, which counted 507 deaths in drowning accidents off the Tunisian coasts since the beginning of the year.

The forum's official spokesman, Ramadan Ben Omar, said in the press conference that "the migration crisis continues with the silence of the Tunisian institutions and ministries," and blamed the "Presidency of the Republic responsible for that.

And the Tunisian Ministry of Interior announced in a statement, today, Tuesday, that the coast guard forces managed, during the night between Monday and Tuesday in the southern and northern coasts of the country, to "thwart 34 secretly crossings of the maritime borders  and rescue 554 migrants."