ROME: Seven people were lost at sea and 41 others were brought to Italy’s Lampedusa island after a migrant boat got into difficulty in the Mediterranean, German NGO Sea-Watch said Wednesday.
The survivors, the majority of them Sudanese, had been at sea for six days before landing on Lampedusa late Tuesday. They were rescued by Sea-Watch’s ship Aurora after refusing help from the Tunisian authorities, the NGO said.
According to the testimony of those on board, the boat left Libya on August 27 but became stranded in international waters between Tunisia and Malta.
Seven people were lost in the water.
Tunisian authorities ordered a supply ship operating in the Miskar gas fields to rescue the 41 survivors, and the Tunisian navy turned up days later — but the migrants refused to go with them, a Sea-Watch spokesman told AFP.
“Some of these people would rather die than be forced to Tunisia,” he said.
Sea-Watch, which monitored events with its observation aircraft, said that Malta refused its requests to help but it finally received permission from Tunisian authorities to collect the migrants.
The Aurora took them to Lampedusa, located just 90 miles (145 kilometers) off the Tunisian coast.
Tunisia is a key transit country for thousands of African migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea each year.
In 2023, Tunisia signed a 255-million-euro ($290-million) deal with the European Union, nearly half of which was earmarked for tackling irregular migration.
The deal aimed to bolster Tunisia’s capacity to stop boats leaving its shore, but campaigners say migrants face discrimination, racism and violence in the country.
Italy’s hard-right government backed the Tunisia deal as part of its efforts to stop the boats, which also included restricting the activities of NGO ships.
