Bodies of 17 migrants found off Tunisia coast
Date
3/19/2022 7:09:39 PM
(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
The bodies of 17 migrants who were attempting to reach Europe
have been found off Tunisia's northeast coast, the civil defense
said, Trend reports citing Al Arabiya .
The bodies washed up off Cape Bon, a peninsula on the strait of
Sicily, between Friday and Saturday, spokesman Moez Triaa told
AFP.
“The majority were from sub-Saharan Africa but there were also
Syrians,” Triaa said, without providing details on where they had
set off from or the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
Tunisia and neighboring Libya are key departure points for
migrants seeking to reach European shores.
In late February, nine migrants from various African countries
drowned after their boat capsized off the Tunisian coast while they
were trying to reach Europe.
Earlier this month, the bodies of four African migrants were
found in eastern Tunisia, with authorities saying they had probably
died of cold or hunger after crossing the Algerian border.
The United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR has said that around
1,300 migrants drowned or went missing in 2021 on the Central
Mediterranean route, making it the world's deadliest migration
pathway.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that more
than 18,000 migrants have died or disappeared while attempting to
make the trip since 2014.
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