Tunisia rounds up migrants at sea in unprecedented numbers

By MEHDI EL-AREM and ELAINE GANLEY
Associated Press

OFF THE COAST OF SFAX, Tunisia (AP) — A young man wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with “Dior,” women clutching infants and children bundled against the cold step into a Tunisian Maritime National Guard boat and away from their dreams of life in Europe. They are among hundreds of people caught in overnight sweeps for rickety boats on the Mediterranean Sea. During one such National Guard mission, The Associated Press witnessed migrants pleading to continue their journeys. Over 14 hours, 372 people were taken from the unseaworthy vessels. Migrants, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa, are undertaking the perilous journey to Europe in unprecedented numbers. The ones plucked from the water off Tunisia are returned to the port city of Sfax.