TUNIS — Six
more bodies have been recovered off the
Tunisian coast, the interior ministry
said Monday, raising the death toll to 12 after a boat carrying migrants
capsized last week.
اضافة اعلان
A total of 37
people, all Tunisian, had boarded the boat from near the coastal city of Sfax
in a clandestine bid to reach the Italian coast, according to a security
source.
The makeshift
vessel capsized on Tuesday night last week off Mahdia, a coastal town in
east-central Tunisia.
The latest six
bodies, found on Sunday, came after six were retrieved on Thursday — although
authorities had initially reported eight.
Fourteen people
were rescued, leaving 11 still missing.
Tunisia is a key
departure point for migrants seeking to reach the
Italian island of Lampedusa
just 130km away, often in vessels that are barely seaworthy.
The summer months
also tend to see higher numbers of people making such journeys, and according
to official figures, Tunisian authorities have intercepted some 500 people in
recent days.
While many of those
attempting the journey are from elsewhere in Africa or further afield, a
grinding economic crisis has pushed growing numbers of Tunisians to attempt the
crossing.
The EU’s Frontex
border agency says more than 42,500 migrants used the central Mediterranean
route between January and July, up 44 percent compared with the first seven
months of 2021.
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