Tunisia cemeteries reach full capacity as hundreds of refugees wash up

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News Agencies
30 Apr 2023 19:53

In 2023 alone, 300 dead refugees have reportedly washed up on Tunisian shores in failed attempts at irregular migration across the Mediterranean into Europe.

New spaces are made for more coffins at the cemetery of Essada, near Sfax, April 20 2023 (The Guardian)

According to a report by The Guardian, Tunisian authorities are considering building new cemeteries as old ones fill up with hundreds of dead washed-up refugees.

So far, in 2023, 300 dead refugees have reportedly washed up on Tunisian shores in failed attempts at irregular migration across the Mediterranean into Europe.

According to UN reports, the three-month span from January to March alone has been the deadliest since 2017: with an increasing number of asylum boats being reportedly wrecked at sea.

In 2022, the Tunisian Red Crescent reported that 800 bodies were recovered from the shores of the Sfax region.

“Due to the influx of a large number of victims, more than 170 bodies have exceeded the capacity to accommodate the forensic medicine department of Habib Bourghiba university hospital,” a statement by the Sfax governorate read.

The governorate also announced that it had held emergency meetings with health authorities in an effort to designate a cemetery for immigrants and make the necessary logistical arrangements: by providing refrigerated trucks to transport decomposed and mutilated bodies.

Last week, Tunisia's coastguard announced that the bodies of 29 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries were recovered after three boats capsized.

The coastguard had rescued 11 irregular migrants of various African nationalities after their boats sank, adding that there were three separate sinking boats.

Shipwrecks have left dozens of migrants dead while others remain missing in the country that serves as a starting point for migrants seeking to reach nearby European shores.

One of the incidents reported recovering 19 bodies 58 kilometers off the coast after their boat capsized.

Eight bodies were also recovered by a coastguard patrol of the coastal city of Mahdiya, where they also rescued 11 other migrants after their boat sank while on its way to Italy.