Local Director of Civil Protection, Mounir Al-Riyabi, told Agence France-Presse, “Two people between the ages of 16 and 17 died out of four who sneaked into a container to cool grains and vegetables on a commercial ship that was heading towards a European country.”
The four minors spent about eight hours inside the refrigerated containers “before the ship’s crew noticed them and returned to the port of Tunis,” according to Al-Riyabi.
The other two people are in “stable condition in the hospital,” according to the same source.
Tunisia represents an important starting point for immigrants of Tunisian and sub-Saharan African nationalities to the Italian coast.
Most attempts at illegal immigration take place by sea, often on rickety boats, while some of them take place by sneaking onto commercial ships carrying goods towards European countries.
Tunisia is going through a difficult economic situation, as the growth rate reached 1.3% during the year 2023, while the unemployment rate reached 16%.
At the beginning of last week, the Tunisian Coast Guard announced that about forty irregular Tunisian migrants were trying to reach Italy by sea.
In 2023, 155,754 illegal migrants arrived in Italy, with Tunisians making up the second largest group of these (17,304) after Guinea (18,204), according to the Italian Interior Ministry.
#Tunisia. #minors #killed #spent #hours #refrigerated #container #order #immigrate #Europe