‘We are already dead here’: last residents of Tunisian ghost town set sights on Europe

Diyar al Hajjaj’s population has halved in less than two years as its young people try again and again to cross sea

Once a week or so, after night falls, about 30 or more young Tunisians set off on foot from the town of Diyar al Hajjaj towards a nearby beach.

They skirt a drying-up lagoon, home to a shrinking flamingo population, and cram on to a small inflatable boat, keeping an eye out for police patrols. Their destination – if they can give the coastguard the slip and survive the dark waters of the Mediterranean – is the Italian island of Pantelleria, about 28 miles away.