More than 14,000 people have been prevented from crossing to Europe since the beginning of the year, according to the Tunisian coastguard. “Coast Guard patrols prevented 501 illegal attempts to cross the maritime border between January 1 and March 31,” a statement said Friday. This saved the lives of 14,406 migrants, including 13,138 from sub-Saharan Africa.
That is more than five times as many people as in the same period last year, a spokesman for the Coast Guard writes on the online service Facebook. Most of the people were therefore intercepted off the coast of the provinces of Sfax and Mahdia, whose coasts are only 150 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
For many, crossing the Mediterranean is a death sentence
More than 14,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, compared to about 5,300 in the same period last year, according to Italy’s Interior Ministry. During the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean in overcrowded boats, dozens of people are killed time and time again.
Source: Krone
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