15 people found dead off Tunisia coast: judiciary

Fifteen unidentified bodies have been recovered off Tunisia's eastern coast, a judicial official told news agency AFP on Monday, saying authorities have yet to determine whether they were migrants.

Samples have been taken to identify the bodies "due to the extent of decomposition", said Farid Ben Jha, spokesman for the Monastir and Mahdia governorates' public prosecution.

He said the bodies were found over the weekend in three different areas in Mahdia, one of Tunisia's hotspots for irregular migration.

Tunisia and neighbouring Libya have become key departure points for migrants, often from other African countries, who risk perilous Mediterranean Sea journeys in the hopes of reaching better lives in Europe.

Each year, tens of thousands of people attempt to make the crossing. Italy, whose Lampedusa island is only 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Tunisia, is often their first port of call.

Late September, 12 Tunisians including three children were found dead after their boat capsized off the coast of the southeastern island of Djerba, whereas 29 were rescued.

Since January 1, at least 103 makeshift boats have capsized and 341 bodies have been recovered off Tunisia's coast, according to the interior ministry.

More than 1,300 people died or disappeared last year in shipwrecks off the North African country, according to the Tunisian FTDES rights group.

The International Organization for Migration has said that more than 30,309 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in the past decade, including more than 3,000 last year.