12 migrant bodies found

A DOZEN bodies were retrieved Saturday by the Tunisian coast guard, the Red Crescent said, days after a boat sank with scores of migrants on board according to a survivor.

“Twelve bodies were recovered Saturday morning off the coast of southern Tunisia, two of which were women,” said Mongi Slim, a Red Crescent official.

Those found were estimated to have been between 20 and 30 years old, he told AFP.

The body of another woman who drowned was found on the beach of Zarzis in southern Tunisia, national guard spokesman Houcem Eddine Jebabli said Friday.

The search for other victims of the shipwreck was continuing off the coast of Zarzis, he said.

A Malian survivor told the UN’s migration agency that 86 people had been on board the inflatable dinghy that sank on Monday.

“People were terrified as water started pouring in, some of them fell into the water. They stayed down there,” survivor Soleiman Coulibaly told AFP.

The Red Crescent and the navy said three Malians and an Ivorian were rescued on Wednesday by the coast guard, who had been alerted by local fishermen.

The Ivorian, however, died in hospital and one of the Malians has also been hospitalised in intensive care.