RAS JEBEL – Once it was just the jobless young men who set off from Tunisia’s rocky northern beaches for Sicily, usually defying their parents in hopes of a better future.Now Tunisian families, even those with work or seemingly good prospects, are following that path across 130 kilometers (80 miles) of open water — nearly 10,000 since the beginning of the year and far more than have left in recent memory.
The stretch of Mediterranean can be dangerous, the chance of getting asylum in Europe is near zero, and a long quarantine in a ferry anchored offshore will be followed by expulsion if they’re caught.
But many who leave from the Bizerte coastline think the potential reward far outweighs the risk. Those with relatives in Europe are the ones.