Tunisian authorities reported on Wednesday the discovery of 13 bodies of sub-Saharan African migrants washed up on the country’s Mediterranean coast near Mahdia, a town approximately 142 kilometers (88 miles) from the Italian island of Lampedusa. This grim finding underscores the ongoing humanitarian crisis surrounding unauthorized migration from North Africa to Europe.
The Coast Guard recovered the bodies, all identified as men from sub-Saharan Africa, according to local court spokesperson Ferid Ben Jha. An investigation has been launched to determine the origins of the deceased migrants.
Tunisia, along with neighboring Libya, has long served as a key departure point for migrants attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to reach European shores. Lampedusa, being closer to North Africa than mainland Italy, is often the first European landfall for many of these migrants.
This incident occurs despite recent efforts by Tunisian authorities to increase patrols of territorial waters, supported by European funding and assistance. These measures have led to a notable decrease in migrant crossings and related deaths. Tunisia’s National Guard reported that from January through May, they recovered 462 bodies and intercepted over 30,000 migrants off the Tunisian coast, compared to 714 bodies and nearly 22,000 interceptions during the same period last year.
The European Union’s border and coast guard agency, FRONTEX, attributes the decrease in Central Mediterranean crossings largely to preventive measures taken by Tunisian, Libyan, and Turkish authorities. Italian data shows that approximately 10,000 migrants arrived in Italy by boats from Tunisia in the first half of this year, less than a third of the total for the same period in 2023.
However, as security tightens in the Mediterranean, there has been a corresponding increase in migrant arrivals to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off Africa’s Atlantic coast, now serving as an alternative route to continental Europe.
The United Nations refugee agency estimates that at least 1,000 people die or go missing at sea each year, while the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights reported over 1,300 dead or missing off Tunisia in 2023 alone.
AP
