TUNIS: The Tunisian coast guard has recovered eight more bodies from a migrant boat that sank off the country’s shores this week, raising the death toll to 33, the coast guard said on Friday.
A wooden boat packed with about 110 African migrants sank on Wednesday off the city of Sfax. Seventy-six people were rescued.
The costguard said four other decomposing bodies were also recovered, apparently from old shipwrecks.
Drowning accidents off Tunisia have increased in recent weeks, leaving dozens dead and missing, amid a sharp rise in migrant boats heading toward Italy from the Tunisian coast.
Tunisia has overtaken Libya as a main departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East in the hope of a better life in Europe.
The Tunisian National Guard said this month that more than 14,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, were intercepted or rescued in the first three months of the year while trying to cross to Europe, five times more than figures recorded in the same period last year.
Attempts at illegal migration have increased in recent weeks from the Tunisian coast toward the nearby Italian coast, leaving dozens dead and many missing.
The central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration.
European countries rely on countries in North Africa to police migration, and Italy on Thursday pledged Tunisia a host of investments and help negotiating an International Monetary Fund bailout as the Italian government seeks to stem the number of migrant arrivals.
Tensions around migration have risen in Tunisia this year after President Kaïs Saied ordered a crackdown on sub-Saharan African migrants and lashed out at a perceived plot to erase Tunisia’s identity.
The comments fanned racist abuse target Black people in Tunisia, and prompted international criticism and concern.
