Boat with rescued migrants blocked from Tunisia

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An Egyptian boat that rescued 75 migrants in international waters was blocked Saturday evening off the Tunisian coast.

The authorities claim not to have the logistics to welcome these new migrants, according to the captain of the boat and a Tunisian NGO.

The ship, a tanker-towboat serving an offshore oil platform from Tunisia, passed a boat with a broken engine on Friday morning, carrying 75 migrants.

In the absence of rescue intervention, as the weather deteriorated, the tug brought the migrants on board and headed for the port of Zarzis in southern Tunisia.

But since Friday evening, the Tunisian authorities have been denying the boat access to the port, said the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), a Tunisian NGO.

According to the NGO, the migrants – 64 Bangladeshis, nine Egyptians, one Moroccan and one Sudanese – departed from western Libya.

The NGO further said that the regional governor is demanding government support before accepting the migrants citing the increase in new arrivals from neighbouring Libya in recent months.

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