TUNIS, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Thirty-four migrants were found missing on Friday after a boat sank off Tunisia's southeastern coast, according to a judicial official from the Sfax province.
The boat, carrying 38 migrants from sub-Saharan countries, left the province on Thursday heading for the European coast, spokesman of Sfax's Court of First Instance Faouzi Masmoudi said in a tweet.
Four migrants have been rescued, and the search for the missing is still underway, Masmoudi noted.
The spokesman added that over the last 48 hours, 30 illegal immigration attempts have been foiled, with 2,034 migrants being intercepted.
Tunisia, located in the central Mediterranean, is one of the main points of access to Europe used by illegal immigrants. The number of attempts by illegal immigrants to go to Italy from the Tunisian coast has been increasing despite the strict measures taken by the Tunisian authorities. ■