National navy units fished out two bodies of women on Wednesday, 25 km north-east of Sfax coast, after the shipwreck of their boat.
22 irregular migrants of various nationalities (6 Malians, 5 Ivorians, 8 Guineans, 1 Cameroonian, 1 Zambian and 1 Haitian), including 6 women and a child, had been on board the boat, said a Defence Ministry press release.
Aged between 4 and 40 years, the irregular migrants claimed to have set sail late on the night of September 7 from the coast of El Aouabed (Sfax) with the intention of illegally crossing the maritime borders towards Europe.
They were taken back to the Sfax naval base where they were handed over to the National Guard to take the necessary measures against them, the same source added.
In a second press release, the Department of Defence indicated that a coast guard unit on Wednesday thwarted an attempt to smuggle twelve Tunisians aged between 18 and 40 years old, 20 km from the port of Taguermess (Medenine).
These individuals were taken back to the port of Zarzis while waiting to hand them over to the National Guard to take the necessary measures against them.
Source: TAP News Agency