Migrant Boat Capsize: 2 more bodies recovered from Mediterranean

The Tunisian coastguard has recovered two more bodies from the Mediterranean where an overcrowded boat capsized on May 9.

“Two more bodies were recovered yesterday. The victims are Bangladeshis, but their identities are not known yet. We are trying to identify them,” said ASM Ashraful Islam, labour counsellor of Bangladesh Embassy in Libya, who is now visiting Tunisia.

He said there was no possibility to recover the 37 others who have been missing and are feared dead in the Mediterranean where the boat carrying nearly 80 migrants, headed for Italy, capsized. 

Ashraful Islam said the only task of the embassy now was to ensure the wellbeing of the 14 Bangladeshis who survived and repatriate those who want to return to Bangladesh.

Only seven of the total 14 Bangladeshi survivors, however, have agreed to return. Others were still confused as they said they had spent a lot of money and would be in trouble if they return home, he said.

He added that four of the 14 survivors were undergoing treatment at a hospital in Tunisia. It will take one to two weeks for them to recover.

On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abul Momen said some 150 migrants, including around 130 Bangladeshis, were in a ship that had started sailing from Libyan port city of Zuwara for Italy. At least 65 lives were lost in the tragedy.

In the middle of the sea, the migrants were transferred to two boats -- one boat arrived in Italy and the other one capsized because it was overcrowded, he said.