Tunisia coastguard recovers bodies of 16 migrants

Tunisia's coastguard has recovered the bodies of 16 migrants off the coast of the towns of Maloulech, Salakta and Chebba, the national guard said on Monday, the latest migrant boat disaster in the Mediterranean.

"The bodies were found at the weekend and on Monday... The victims have not been identified because the bodies had decomposed," a senior official in the national guard, Houssem Eddine Jebabli, told Reuters.

Last month at least 15 Tunisian people died, including three infants, and 10 others were missing after their boat sank off the Tunisian coast at Djerba as they sought to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

The bodies of 13 sub-Saharan African migrants were also recovered in the same area last month.

Tunisia is grappling with an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as the major departure point for both Tunisians and people from elsewhere in Africa seeking a better life in Europe.