Tunisian Fishermen Rescue 75 Migrants Drifting at Sea

Tunisian fishermen rescued 75 migrants on Thursday who had been drifting at sea for five days after leaving Libya aboard an inflatable in a bid to reach Italy, survivors told AFP.

The migrants from Bangladesh, Ghana and Nigeria had left the Libyan port of Zwara and were hoping to reach the Italian coast but were caught in a storm and got lost at sea, one of the Bangladeshis said.

He said that they were running out of food and water until they spotted a Tunisian fishing boat which escorted them to shore.

The migrants were in a state of extreme fatigue by the time they made landfall in Zarzis, in southern Tunisia, where emergency services took charge of them, an AFP correspondent reported.

Earlier this month, Tunisian coastguards intercepted 90 African migrants whose makeshift boat heading from Libya for the Italian island of Lampedusa broke down off Zarzis.

Would-be immigrants often attempt the crossing from Tunisia or Libya to Lampedusa in rickety boats.

Hundreds of people lost their lives off the island last October, and in late February, the Tunisian navy had to rescue some 100 migrants whose boat started taking on water.