TUNIS: Tunisian coast guard forces recovered the bodies of eight Tunisian migrants whose boat sank at the weekend en route to Italy, while the search continued for six others who are missing, a National Guard spokesperson said on Sunday.
Coast guard, military and civil protection teams, backed by two helicopters, continued to search for the missing migrants.
The boat, which set off early on Thursday with 15 mostly young people on board, sank off the Tunisian coast this weekend. Only one person had been rescued, the head of a migrant rights group said on Saturday.
Among those on board were seven members of the same family and a man with his pregnant wife, the head of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The sole survivor said he had been adrift at sea for 48 hours before being rescued by a commercial vessel.
All of the migrants were from the Ben Guerdane area in south-eastern Tunisia. Dozens of young people gathered late on Saturday in the town near the Libyan border to demand that search operations be accelerated.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters.
The central Mediterranean route from the North African coast is one of the world’s deadliest migration routes, used by migrants from Africa and the Middle East seeking to reach Europe, often in overcrowded or unseaworthy boats.
- Tunisian coast guard recovered the bodies of eight migrants from a boat that sank en route to Italy.
- Six migrants remain missing, with search efforts continuing involving coast guard, military, civil protection, and helicopters.
- The boat departed early Thursday with 15 mostly young people on board, including seven family members and a man with his pregnant wife.
- Only one person survived, rescued after being adrift for 48 hours by a commercial vessel.
- Dozens of people in Ben Guerdane protested demanding faster search operations, but police used tear gas to disperse them.
TUNIS: Tunisian coast guard forces recovered the bodies of eight Tunisian migrants whose boat sank at the weekend en route to Italy, while the search continued for six others who are missing, a National Guard spokesperson said on
Coast guard, military and civil protection teams, backed by two helicopters, continued to search for the missing migrants.
All of the migrants were from the Ben Guerdane area in south-eastern Tunisia. Dozens of young people gathered late on Saturday in the town near the Libyan border to demand that search operations be accelerated.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters.
