TUNISIA: Tunisia's interior ministry says the captain of a migrant boat that sank off the coast of Italy killing hundreds was a Tunisian

Record ID: 348612

  • Title: TUNISIA: Tunisia's interior ministry says the captain of a migrant boat that sank off the coast of Italy killing hundreds was a Tunisian
  • Date: 4th October 2013
  • Summary: TUNIS, TUNISIA (OCTOBER 4, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF JANUARY 14TH SQUARE ON HABIB BOURGUIBA AVENUE VARIOUS OF INTERIOR MINISTRY BUILDING WITH TUNISIAN FLAGS FLYING TUNISIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY SPOKESMAN MOHAMED ALI AROUI TAKING SEAT IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TUNISIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, MOHAMED ALI AROUI, SAYING: "As far as we know, the skipper of the b
  • Embargoed: 19th October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Tunisia
  • Country: Tunisia
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA26ZH0I0DCYHKQ634VIY4AIITZ
  • Story Text: Tunisia says it is working to tackling illegal emigration, after a boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Italy killing hundreds.
    The boat, carrying mainly Eritrean and Somalis, sank in the early hours of Thursday (October 3) after fuel caught fire, triggering a panicked rush to one side of the vessel, which capsized.
    An estimated 300 people are thought to have died in the disaster.
    Tunisia's interior ministry said the boat had begun its ill-fated journey in Libya.

    "As far as we know, the skipper of the boat is Tunisian. He is among the survivors. But the departure took place from the Libyan coast and not the Tunisian one," said spokesman, Mohamed Ali Aroui.
    In the days following the ousting of former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, more than 1,000 people escaping turmoil in Tunisia landed on Italy's Lampedusa island in rickety boats, raising fears of a new, uncontrolled wave of illegal immigration from North Africa.
    But Aroui said that since then, the Tunisian government had intercepted several groups which were trying to take people across to Libya illegally.

    "We have dismantled many trafficking networks, like those which organise this kind of operation and we have arrested some people. So we have stopped many young people from going illegally to the Libyan coast," he said.
    Lampedusa, a tiny fishing and tourist island halfway between Sicily and the coasts of Tunisia and Libya, has borne the brunt of a crisis which over the years has seen tens of thousands of migrants arrive in unsafe and overcrowded vessels.
    Though the island takes in thousands of immigrants every year and there have been similar wrecks in the past, residents were shaken by the sheer size of Thursday's tragedy.
    Aroui said the Tunisian authorities were working to make sure similar incidents were avoided.

    "Intelligence procedures are currently ongoing, we are closely following those who are preparing for such operations. We try to prevent these things before they happen," he said.
    Last year, almost 500 people were reported dead or missing on the crossing from Tunisia to Italy, the U.N. refugee office UNHCR says. Syrians fleeing civil war have added to the numbers.
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