15 people found dead off Tunisia coast: judiciary

By AFP
October 29, 2024
A file picture shows a group thought to be migrants from Tunisia aboard a precarious wooden boat waiting to be assisted by a team of the Spanish NGO Open Arms, around 30 kilometres southwest from the Italian island of Lampedusa, Italy. — AFP/File
A file picture shows a group thought to be migrants from Tunisia aboard a precarious wooden boat waiting to be assisted by a team of the Spanish NGO Open Arms, around 30 kilometres southwest from the Italian island of Lampedusa, Italy. — AFP/File

TUNIS: At least 15 unidentified bodies have been recovered off Tunisia´s eastern coast, a judicial official told AFP on Monday, saying authorities have yet to determine whether they were migrants.

Samples have been taken to identify the bodies “due to the extent of decomposition”, said Farid Ben Jha, spokesman for the Monastir and Mahdia governorates´ public prosecution. He said the bodies were found over the weekend in three different areas in Mahdia, one of Tunisia´s hotspots for irregular migration.

Tunisia and neighbouring Libya have become key departure points for migrants, often from other African countries, who risk perilous Mediterranean Sea journeys in the hopes of reaching better lives in Europe. Each year, tens of thousands of people attempt to make the crossing. Italy, whose Lampedusa island is only 150-kms from Tunisia, is often their first port of call.