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Tunisia Recovers 14 Migrants' Bodies After Dozens Drowned Off Coast

Reuters

   TUNIS, TUNISIA - Tunisia's Coast Guard recovered onSaturday the bodies
   of 14 African migrants who drowned whentheir boat carrying more than 80
   people sank after setting offfor Europe from neighboring Libya, the
   Tunisian Red Crescentsaid.

   Tunisian fishermen rescued four people but one later died at ahospital,
   the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said Thursday. Theothers on the
   overcrowded boat were feared drowned.

   At least 65 migrants heading for Europe from Libya drownedlast May when
   their boat capsized off Tunisia.

   Libya's west coast is a main departure point for Africanmigrants hoping
   to reach Europe, though numbers have dropped because ofan Italian-led
   effort to disrupt smuggling networks andsupport the Libyan Coast Guard.

   Although the fighting in Libya has made the situation moredifficult for
   human smugglers, international aid officials havewarned it could also
   prompt more Libyans to flee their country.

   Libyans who are picked up by the Libyan Coast Guard areroutinely taken
   back to Libya and detained. The United Nationshas pleaded with Libya's
   government to free the detainees, someof whom have been locked up for
   years.

   In May, 108 migrants and refugees were sent to the Tajouradetention
   centernear Tripoli, which was hit by airstrikes onTuesday night that
   killed at least 53 people.

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