The Red Crescent said that eight migrants, believed to be Tunisians who had been missing for two weeks, had been found dead on Monday.
According to Mongi Slim, director of the Red Crescent in Medenine, “sailors on Monday morning uncovered eight bodies of migrants off Zarzis whose boat was assumed to have sunk two weeks earlier.”
DNA samples, according to him, have been obtained in an effort to identify the victims.
Tunisia has traditionally served as a launching point for migrants escaping war and poverty throughout the African continent and looking for asylum in Europe. It is just around 130 kilometres (80 miles) from Italy’s Lampedusa island.
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Local media have reported that a makeshift boat carrying 18 migrants including a baby went missing 15 days ago.
Tunisian coastguards were continuing the search for survivors, the Red Crescent said.
Generally favourable weather from spring to early autumn sees a rise in illegal attempts to reach Italy from Tunisia and Libya, but such Mediterranean crossings often end in tragedy.
According to official figures, more than 22,500 migrants have been intercepted off the Tunisian coast since the start of the year, around half of them from sub-Saharan Africa.
Upwards of 500 people, mostly Tunisians, have been arrested on suspicion of people smuggling over the same period.
Tunisia is currently in the throes of an economic crisis, with an estimated four million out of its 12-million-strong population on the poverty line.
The authorities say the coastguard lacks the resources to halt the clandestine flow of migrants trying to reach Europe.
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According to EU border agency Frontex, the central Mediterranean route was used by more than 42,500 migrants between January and July, an increase of 44 percent compared with the first seven months of 2021.
