NOS News•today, 9:06 PM
The Tunisian coast guard has recovered fourteen bodies from the sea off the coast of Djerba island. It is the third time in two days that the coast guard has found dead migrants.
Yesterday, 22 bodies were found further north off the coast of the city of Sfax. Another seven bodies were found near Gabès in the Gulf of Gabès of the same name.
Recently, the number of migrants entering the Mediterranean has increased sharply again. This year there are already almost 50,000 people. According to the United Nations, an estimated 473 people were killed or missing.
Last year, a record number of refugees and migrants ventured to the Italian island of Lampedusa. At least 123,000 people made the crossing, the vast majority of whom came from Tunisia.
Tunisia deal
Due to the record number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, the European Union, led by EU President Von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Meloni and Prime Minister Rutte, concluded a deal with Tunisia last summer.
That country would receive 900 million euros in investments from Europe in exchange for better border control. The deal had difficulty getting off the ground and Tunisia has returned large amounts several times.
Human rights organizations were critical of the deal from the start. In the days after the deal, Tunisia deliberately sent refugees and migrants across the border into the Libyan desert.
Nieuwsuur reporter Saskia Dekkers spoke with human smugglers last year:
The migrant drama in Tunisia
