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Refugees trying to reach Europe drown, bodies found off Tunisia coast

The majority of the 20 people found dead were from sub-Saharan Africa, but there were also Syrians, an official said.

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In recent months, several people have drowned off the Tunisian coast, with an increase in the frequency of attempted crossings to Europe.

The death toll from a refugee shipwreck off Tunisia on Friday has risen to 20 people, most of them Syrians, as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, a civil protection official has said, the latest ship disaster off Tunisia.

He told Reuters news agency that the coastguard recovered eight bodies on Saturday, after finding 12 on Friday. A search was still under way.

The bodies washed up off Cape Bon, a peninsula on the strait of Sicily, civil defence spokesperson Moez Triaa, separately told AFP news agency on Saturday.

"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 neighbouring Libya are key departure points for migrants and refugees aiming to reach European shores.

Deadly pathway

In late February, nine migrants and refugees 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 and refugees 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 around 1,300 migrants and refugees 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 and refugees have died or disappeared while attempting to make the trip since 2014.

SOURCE: AFP