At least 67 people lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia and Libya at the weekend. An official in the Tunisian town of Sfax said they have run out of room to bury the dead.
Tunisian authorities said Sunday (April 24) that 17 bodies had been recovered after four boats capsized in the Mediterranean Sea near the Tunisian coast.while another 24 bodies retrieved today. Mourad Turki, a spokesperson in Sfax, said the boats were in bad condition and had left from the port city overnight Friday to Saturday (April 22-23).
The victims included a woman and "at least one baby," Turki said, adding that he believed the death toll could rise. Survivors have said "there were between 30 and 32 people on board each boat," he said. Most were from sub-Saharan African countries including Ivory Coast, Mali and Somalia.
The Tunisian navy said it rescued 98 survivors from the four small boats. A spokesperson for the Tunisian National Guard in Sfax, Ali Ayari, said the boats had been heading to Italy.
Tunisia’s coast guard has retrieved 24 more bodies of migrants who had been among about 120 people on boats that sank off the Tunisian coast at the end of April, a judicial official told Reuters on Wednesday.
The confirmed death toll has now reached 67 from last month’s sinking of four boats as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy. More than 50 people are still missing.The confirmed death toll has now reached 67 from last month’s sinking of four boats as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy. More than 50 people are still missing.
