According to eyewitnesses, a group of Tunisians who spent more than a month trying to emigrate by sea exhumed graves in southeast Tunisia in search of remains that might be returned to their families.
On the night of September 20 to 21, a boat carrying 18 immigrants from Tunisia sailed away from the coast of the city of Gerges in an effort to reach the Italian coast.
On October 10, fishermen found eight bodies of Tunisians, and 12 Tunisian immigrants are still missing.
Four Tunisian immigrants were unintentionally interred in a cemetery called “Africa Park,” which is typically used to bury migrants’ bodies from sub-Saharan countries when they are discovered off the coast of the area. The bodies were identified, removed under public pressure, and interred in different graves throughout the city.
However, according to AFP correspondent, other missing families said that other bodies have been buried for their families in the cemetery.
Videos posted on the two social media platforms showed men and women opening graves in an effort to learn more about the remains by studying the clothing that was buried alongside them.
After the citizens of Gerges insisted on refusing to bury the bodies of migrants in their graves, an Algerian artist was established in the year 2021 to bury the bodies of migrants, the majority of whom are from nationalities of countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
And on Friday, protests were held once more in the city in southeast Tunisia, which serves as a hub for unauthorised immigrants heading to Europe, in order to demand the disclosure of what happened to the 12 people who went missing in the sea a month and a month ago.
Gerges, which has a population of 75,000, also witnessed a general strike on October 18 to demand an investigation into the boat sinking and intensify the search for missing persons, as well as in protest against the burial of some victims without verifying their identity.
President Qais Saeed instructed the Ministry of Justice to launch an investigation to identify those responsible after this tragedy.
With the moderation of the weather between spring and early autumn, the frequency of irregular immigration attempts from the Tunisian and Libyan coasts increases to the Italian coast, and sometimes ends with drowning.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 1765 migrants were lost in the Mediterranean, which is the riskiest route for immigration in the world.
Security officials recently told Agence France-Presse that the Tunisian government is having trouble stopping or saving migrants and is lamenting a lack of funding.
More than 22,500 immigrants – Tunisians, from sub -Saharan countries and other nationalities – were objected to the Tunisian coast since the beginning of the year, according to official data..
The Tunisians who perished at sea dug graves to look for their relatives’ remains.
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