Tunisians risking their lives to escape Italy’s quarantine boats

Tunisian migrants and asylum seekers being held on boats off the coast of Italy have drowned or attempted suicide.

It was a late spring morning in the Tunisian port town of Sfax and Salah Massoud had no idea his son was leaving him. That morning, 22-year-old Bilel had bought new clothes and gone to the dentist. It was the holy month of Ramadan and, when asked if he would be home in time to break his fast, he replied: “Don’t wait for me, I’ll be at sea.” Bilel worked as a fisherman, a common occupation in the region. The family lived off fishing and farming, but money was tight. His ambition was to, one day, have enough savings to finish the half-built family home. When Salah called his son’s mobile at 1am the following morning, Bilel again said he was “at sea”. Salah could hear the sound of waves. But hours passed and his son did not come home. Bilel was one of 13,000 Tunisians who reached the Italian coast by boat in 2020, according to estimates by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights. A decade since the fall of longtime ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, young people in the North African country are using coastal towns as launch pads towards Europe to escape rocketing living costs and unemployment. At home, hundreds have taken to the streets to protest against corruption and economic inequality.