The bodies of eight migrants, thought to be Tunisians missing for two weeks, were recovered Monday off the coast of the north African country, the Red Crescent said.
“Sailors on Monday morning found eight bodies of migrants off Zarzis whose boat was thought to have sunk two weeks ago,” Mongi Slim, head of the Red Crescent in Medenine, told AFP.Tunisia is only about 130 kilometres from Italy’s Lampedusa island and has long been a launching pad for people fleeing violence and 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. Tunisia is currently in the throes of an economic crisis, with an estimated four million out of its 12-million-strong population on the poverty line.