Following the capsizing of a migrant boat off the coast of Tunisia last week, at least 53 bodies have been recovered, according to reports by various news agencies.
The migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, died when their Italy-bound boat sank off Tunisia last week, infomigrants.net reports.
At least 24 women and the boat’s captain, a 48-year-old Tunisian, were among the victims.
The navy and coast guards used divers and a helicopter to search for bodies, most of which were found in the same area, a spokesman for a court in Sfax told news agency AFP.
According to Sfax region’s health director Ali Ayadi, some burials were held Thursday.
Ayadi said that DNA samples had been taken in the hope of eventually identifying the bodies before they were laid to rest in numbered graves.
“I am deeply saddened to hear of women and children losing their life in those perilous journeys”, UN refugee agency UNHCR said in an online statement published on Wednesday June 10.
Witnesses had told authorities the victims were believed to be passengers on a boat that set off for Italy a week ago with 53 people on board.
An investigation has been launched to identify the organizers of the journey.
