TUNIS: Nine dead bodies of migrants supposedly from sub-Saharan African countries have been found near the border with Algeria in western Tunisia in recent days, a judicial official on Wednesday said.
Tunisia, whose coastline is less than 150 kms from the Italian island of Lampedusa, has long served as a favoured stepping stone for migrants attempting the risky sea journey from North Africa to Europe.
The bodies were discovered in the mountains near a town in Kasserine province, Haidra and the authorities have launched a probe into the matter that would include autopsies “to determine the causes of deaths,” said spokesman for the Kasserine court, Riadh Nwiwi.
A migrant support group, the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights in a statement said that “preliminary information” points to “cold, fatigue and thirst” as the causes of the migrants’ deaths.
The spokesman noted a rise in irregular migration from other parts of Africa across the Tunisia-Algeria border, and specifically in the forested area near Haidra.
Since the start of 2023, dozens of migrants have lost their lives in a series of shipwrecks off Tunisia’s shores while trying to reach Europe. The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights has denounced “the silence of the Tunisian authorities on the tragedies of migration and the policy of militarization of the borders.”
