Twenty-two immigrants, including nine Moroccans, were rescued off Zarzis, southeastern Tunisia, Tunisian authorities revealed on Thursday.

According to a statement by the Tunisian Ministry of Defense, the migrants had left Libyan port of Boukamech to return to the Libyan coast.

The migrants are from Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Niger, and Bangladesh, reported Maghreb Arab press (MAP).

The rescued migrants were then handed over to Tunisian National Guards for the initiation of the necessary legal proceedings.

1,652 people were arrested in the first eight months of 2017 for non-regulatory migration, the majority of whom are Tunisian nationals, according to a report conducted by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights ( FTDES).

In September, 1,400 undocumented migrants were able to reach the Italian coast, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the Mediterranean. The IOM’s report concludes that the number of irregular migrants arriving in Italy has increased over the past three years ago.

The United Nations had reported the death of more than 5,000 migrants in 2016, who were trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe, mostly from Libya.

A large group of Moroccans, who attempted to reach Europe by crossing from the Libyan coast, have been stranded in Libya for more than six months. This group is facing different forms of torture, arbitrary detention, and even slavery, reported Moroccan media.