The Tunisian navy has intercepted a migrant boat 40 miles off the island of Djerba with 12 people on board who were heading for Italy's coast, Tunisian defence ministry sources said on Monday.
Eleven of the rescued migrants are Tunisian and one is Moroccan and they are aged from 20 to 30, according to the sources.
The boat set sail from the southeast Tunisian port of Zarzis and was heading for the Italian island of Lampedusa, the migrants told officials.
Human traffickers have been increasingly using Tunisia as a launch pad for migrants heading to Europe since a crackdown spearheaded by Libyan coast guard.
Italy's hardline interior minister Matteo Salvini is negotiating with the Tunisian government to speed up expulsions of Tunisian migrants from Italy - their main landing point.
Many Tunisian migrants claim they are fleeing high unemployment and inflation amid an economic crisis that began after the 2011 ousting of autocratic president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
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