Tunisia has become the main departure point for migrants seeking to enter the European Union. Of all the migrants who arrived in Italy in the first few months, more than 13,000 boarded in Tunisia: ten times more than last year.

It means golden times for the smugglers who help migrants cross the Mediterranean. NOS has spoken to someone who can talk about it: “Ibrahim,” who just wants to tell anonymously how the smugglers operate.

In the video he tells his story and you see the atrocities at sea:

According to Ibrahim, there are more and more risks being taken. Besides the Tunisians, there are now also African smugglers helping people from their country. But they don’t know the sea – with all the dangers associated with it.

More than 200 migrants have drowned off the coast of the Tunisian port of Sfax in the past 10 days. The bodies are washed every day. And the burial ground in the city is overcrowded, and the grave diggers cannot cope with the work.

The European Union is deeply concerned about the arrival of a large number of migrants. More and more countries, including the Netherlands, want agreements with Tunisia to stop immigration. In 2016, the European Union struck a similar deal with Türkiye. This country received more than six billion euros to stop people.