Sfax

The unnamed girl, from Sierra Leone, told them she had set off with another 44 people from Sfax in Tunisia.

Migration experts say Mediterranean storm Daniel forced smugglers in and around the Tunisian coastal city of Sfax to pause their operations for several days, creating a bottleneck.

The port city of Sfax is a central jumping-off point for Africans who hope to make the risky boat journey across the Mediterranean.

The migrants had set off from the Tunisian city of Sfax, a well-known launchpad for sea journeys to Europe.

Within half an hour of our departure from the Tunisian coastal city of Sfax and boarding the national coast guard patrol boat, the radar had intercepted its first signal.