Tunisian coastguards have recovered the bodies of 16 migrants of sub-Saharan origin since Monday, an official at Ben Guerdane port in the south of the country said today.
Fathi Abab told AFP that the bodies that had washed ashore were thought to be of people who had drowned trying to reach Europe.
He said five bodies were recovered on Monday, six on Wednesday and five on Thursday.
A civil defence official had said on Monday that the decomposed bodies of five people were recovered that day.
On June 10 off the same port, Tunisia's navy rescued 356 migrants, mainly Africans but also including Syrians and Pakistanis who had left Libya on a makeshift vessel on their way to Europe.
On Sunday, 17 Tunisian migrants were picked up from an inflatable boat off the northern town of El Haouria, the defence ministry said.
People smugglers have taken advantage of the chaos gripping Libya since the 2011 uprising toppled dictator Moamer Kadhafi to step up their lucrative smuggling business.
According to UN High Commissioner for Refugees figures, of the more than 219,000 migrants who tried to cross the Mediterranean in 2014, at least 3,500 lives were lost.
Hundreds have also died this year attempting to make the perilous crossing to Europe, including some 750 people when a trawler sank in April.
