At least 34 people were killed in the sinking of a refugee boat off the coast of Tunisia. Yesterday, a further twelve bodies were recovered near the Kerkenna Islands, as a court spokesman in the port city of Sfax said. 22 bodies had already been found the day before. The victims are said to be 23 women, nine men and two children around the age of three.
The search by the Tunisian Navy and Coast Guard for possible further deaths continued. According to other migrants, a total of 53 people were said to have been on board the boat. It had set out from the Tunisian coast towards Italy in the night of last Friday.
According to the first forensic medical examinations, the majority of the dead came from sub-Saharan Africa, the court spokesman said. The captain of the boat, a 48-year-old Tunisian, was also among the dead.
For a few months now, more and more migrants have been trying to get to Europe from Tunisia via the Mediterranean. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the number of crossings rose by more than 150 percent from January to April.
