About 800 migrants have drowned off Tunisia's coast this year as they tried to reach Europe by boat, National Guard spokesman Houcem Eddine Jebabli told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Jebabli said that 789 bodies of migrants were recovered from the sea, including 102 Tunisians, other foreigners, and unidentified people.
He said that between January 1 to June 20, 34,290 migrants were intercepted and rescued, including 30,587 foreigners, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 9,217 people who were intercepted or retrieved during the same period in 2022.
The Coast Guard carried out 1,310 operations in the first six months, more than double the number of missions last year.
Tunisia, with some coasts less than 150 km from Italy's Lampedusa Island, has become a significant gateway for irregular migrants and asylum-seekers, often from sub-Saharan Africa.
Italian authorities say more than 80,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean and reached the Italian coast since the beginning of the year, compared to 33,000 last year during the same period, most of them from the Tunisian and Libyan coasts.
Tunisian Interior Minister Kamal Feki said Wednesday that the Tunisian Coast Guard had recovered 901 bodies by July 20 following maritime accidents in the Mediterranean Sea.
Tunisia has replaced Libya as the main departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East searching for a better life in Europe.
Feki told the Parliament that among the 901 bodies found, 36 were Tunisians, and 267 were foreign immigrants, while the identity of the rest is unknown.
Most of the boats carrying migrants depart from Sfax. Thousands of migrants without identity papers flocked to the coastal city, especially in the past few months, to travel to Europe in boats run by smugglers, leading to an unprecedented migration crisis in Tunisia.
Official data showed that about 75,065 migrants arrived in Italy by boat until July 14, compared to 31,920 in the same period last year. More than half of them left from Tunisia.
Last week, the European Union and Tunisia signed a memorandum of understanding for a "strategic and comprehensive partnership" on illegal migration, economic development, and renewable energy.
Hundreds of African migrants, including pregnant women and children, are still abandoned in Ras Ajdir between Libya and Tunisia after Tunisian authorities sent them there, according to testimonies collected by AFP.
About 140 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa said they had been in the area without water or food for three weeks and set up a transit camp 30 meters from the Libyan Ras Ajdir border checkpoint.
Following clashes that killed a Tunisian citizen earlier in July, dozens of African migrants were expelled from Sfax and transferred to border areas with Libya and Algeria.
Over the past ten days, Libyan border guards have taken in hundreds of migrants wandering in the desert south of Ras Ajdir, where at least five bodies were found.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tunisian police expelled up to 1,200 African migrants in July to remote desert areas along Tunisia's borders with Libya and Algeria.
On July 10, the Tunisian Red Crescent relocated 600 on the Libyan side and hundreds on the Algerian side to shelters.
