At least 47 irregular migrants were rescued off the coast of Medenine province in Tunisia, said an official from the Tunisian Red Crescent on Wednesday.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Munji Salim, the organization's Medenin director, said they rescued the migrants, mainly from Bangladesh and Egypt alongside Pakistan, Morocco, and Guinea, whose boats broke down.

They will later be transferred to a migrant shelter, he added.

Every year, thousands of irregular migrants use Tunisia and Libya as a gateway to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in overcrowded boats, often dying in the process./aa