Parents of missing Tunisians dig up migrant graves: witnesses

The parents of Tunisian migrants missing since their boat sank in September have dug up graves in a cemetery in a bid to locate and retrieve their dead offspring, witnesses said Tuesday.

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 cemetery, which was formally opened last year to provide a dignified resting place for drowned sub-Saharan migrants - 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.

Around 500 people protested on October 12 in Zarzis to press the authorities into intensifying searches for migrants who are still missing.

Tunisian authorities struggle to intercept or rescue migrants due, they say, to a lack of funding.

On Tuesday, the Tunisian National Guard announced the rescue of six irregular migrants from the sea off Bizerte overnight, after the boat carrying them sank. Five others remain missing.

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.