27 bodies of migrants recovered on Tunisian shores

2011-04-02 03:44:08 GMT+7 (ICT)

KERKENNAH, TUNISIA (BNO NEWS) -- Tunisia's Coast Guard on Friday informed the recovery of 27 bodies of migrants on the shores of Kerkennah who tried to reach southern Italy by boat.

According to the state-run TAP news agency, the victims drowned after two boats sank in the Mediterranean on March 13 and 27. The Coast Guard, with the aid of the army, rescued two boys alive near the coast.

The victims are aged between 19 and 43. The bodies have been identified and authorities said they fled from Sfax, Tunis and Kairouan. A helicopter from the National Army continues looking for survivors of the last sinking.

Meanwhile, migrants staged mass breakaways from a camp in Manduria, southern Italy. They were part of a contingent of 1,700 that arrived Friday from the migrant-packed island of Lampedusa.

The Tunisian migrants managed to slip through a gap in the camp fencing left by firefighters working at the site. The Italian government set up the camps in order to avoid refugees dispersing in its soil.

Authorities said that an estimated 20,000 migrants from North Africa hava reached Italian shores this year. In Lampedusa, an island in the Mediterranean, an estimated 7,000 migrants have arrived, mostly from Tunisia.

The amount represents 1.5 times more migrants than the local population which have demonstrated their unrest. Officials said that food is lacking for migrants as there is only enough for 4,200 people but there are at least 2,000 more on the island.

The Italian government has labeled the situation as an emergency citing health risks and enduring miserable conditions. Italy has requested assistance from the EU to cope with the migrant issue.

On Friday, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said that the government is considering issuing temporary permits for migrants that would enable them to roam EU Member States.

Prime Minsiter Silvio Berlusconi said that repatriation seemed the main solution for Tunisian migrants but due to the lack of support from the EU, issuing temporary permits might be an option as well.

"In cases where the migrant declares their intention to go to other countries, we could grant them temporary residence permits with the right to freely circulate around Europe," said Berlusconi.

Minister Maroni added that this measure would be a ''way to make Europe realize that we have a legislative instrument to apply the principle of solidarity when faced with a total refusal to cooperate."

France has been blocking the entrance of Tunisian migrant sat the French-Italian border which caused tensions between the two nations. European Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom reprimanded France for turning back the migrants at its border.

The French government said it has the right to stop undocumented migrants without breaking the Schengen Agreement that abolished border controls in much of mainland Europe.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-02

Sad. R.I.P