Tunisia launches investigation after 4-year-old girl arrives on Italian island alone

Tunisian authorities have opened an inquiry to investigate how a four-year-old girl arrived in Italy on a migrant boat alone, without her parents or any family members.

A spokesperson for the Tunisian National Guard said the public prosecutor has decided to keep the girl’s parents in custody, accusing them of "entering into an agreement to cross a border illegally and neglecting the affairs of a minor," as well as charges related to human trafficking.

Three others suspected of involvement in the case have been arrested.

Initial investigations have showed that the whole family – including the girl's father, mother, and seven-year-old brother – were supposed to make the journey to Italy with other migrants from the Tunisian city of Sayada near Monastir.

However, the father handed his daughter over to a smuggler on the boat and went to help his wife and son.

By the time he returned to the boat, it had already set out on its journey, arriving later at the Italian island of Lampedusa.

The parents, who work as streets vendors, paid the smuggler around 24,000 dinars - about 7,400 US dollars.

Tunisia’s Ministry of Women, Family, Children and Seniors assigned child protection services to travel to the Italian city of Palermo on Saturday morning to bring the girl back to her country.

Tunisia is only about 130 kilometres from Lampedusa island and has long been a launching pad for people fleeing violence or poverty across the African continent and seeking refuge in Europe.

According to official figures, more than 22,500 migrants have been intercepted off the Tunisian coast since the start of the year, around half of them from sub-Saharan Africa.

Upwards of 500 people, mostly Tunisians, have been arrested on suspicion of people smuggling over the same period.

The country is currently in the throes of an economic crisis, with an estimated third of its 12-million-strong population living below the poverty line.

Authorities say the coastguard lacks the resources to halt the clandestine flow of migrants trying to reach Europe.