TUNIS, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia's maritime guards rescued 63 undocumented immigrants after their boat sank off Tunisian coast, the Tunisian National Guard said in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Monday.
"The rescue operation took place off Kerkennah Islands in the southeastern Tunisian Province of Sfax," it added.
During the operation, the maritime guards also retrieved a body of an immigrant, it said.
The immigrants, who were from different countries, said that they had sailed from a neighboring country toward Italy's Lampedusa island in the Mediterranean Sea.
Tunisia, located in the central Mediterranean, is one of the main points of access to Europe used by illegal immigrants.
The number of illegal immigrants heading for Italy from the Tunisian coast has been increasing despite the strict measures taken by the Tunisian authorities. ■