ZARZIS, Tunisia — The parents of
Tunisian migrants missing since their boat sank in
September have dug up graves in a cemetery hoping to locate and retrieve their
dead offspring, witnesses said Tuesday.
اضافة اعلان
In late
September, a small boat sank after departing Zarzis in southeastern Tunisia
with 18 migrants on board. Eight bodies, including several Tunisians, were
subsequently recovered.
Four bodies of
Tunisians were buried by mistake in the Garden of Africa, a cemetery for
drowned migrants from elsewhere on the continent — many of whom remain
unidentified and or unclaimed.
Those four bodies
were exhumed and transferred to other resting places under pressure from
families.
But the parents
of other Tunisian migrants who remain missing, in the belief that their
children are buried in the same cemetery, began digging up graves on Monday in
an attempt to identify bodies, according to witnesses and videos shared on
social media.
The Garden of
Africa, the initiative of Algerian artist Rachid Koraichi, was formally opened
last year to provide a dignified resting place for migrants who died at sea.
Around 500 people
protested on October 12 in Zarzis to press the authorities into intensifying
searches for migrants who are still missing.
Tunisian
authorities say they struggle to intercept or rescue migrants due to a lack of
funding.
On Tuesday, the
Tunisian National Guard said a migrant had drowned and 10 others were rescued
from the sea off Bizerte overnight, after the boat carrying them sank. Five
others are missing.
Favorable weather
conditions in the spring and summer generally contribute to more attempts to
cross the
Mediterranean Sea from Tunisia and neighboring Libya heading to
Europe than other times of the year.
Since the start
of this year, more than 22,500 migrants have been intercepted off the coast of
Tunisia, of whom just under half originate from sub-Saharan Africa, according
to official figures.
A deep economic
crisis is pushing growing numbers of Tunisians to attempt to reach Europe,
particularly Lampedusa which is less than 130km off the coast.
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