Tunisian authorities on Thursday recovered 13 bodies of illegal immigrants whose boat bound for Italy sank near the coast of the south-eastern province of Sfax, authorities said.
Murad Al-Mashri, regional director of Civil Defence forces in Sfax, told local media that the 13 bodies were of African nationalities.
Al-Mashri added that five others were rescued, while the search for other victims was still going on.
He said that those immigrants were trying to cross the Mediterranean toward the Italian island of Lampedusa.
It is not the first time that Tunisia has recovered the corpses of illegal immigrants who drowned in attempts to migrate illegally from the Tunisian coasts toward Italy.
The island of Lampedusa, the first stop usually chosen by illegal immigrants for their sea voyage toward Italy, is only about 80 km away from the Tunisian coast. (Xinhua/NAN)
