487 in crowded boat rescued

Tunisia’s defence ministry said 487 migrants, including 93 children, were rescued Friday off the North African country’s coast as they tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe in an overloaded boat. The ministry said the vessel had left from neighbouring Libya carrying migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Amid the migrants were 162 Egyptians, 104 Bangladeshis, 81 Syrians, 78 Moroccans and others from Pakistan, the Palestinian territories and several African sub-Saharan countries.