Tunisian authorities recover bodies

Tunisian authorities have recovered the bodies of 15 migrants who died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, the coast guard said Friday. A coast guard statement said the bodies were found Wednesday and Thursday on beaches near the town of Mahdia, 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of the capital, Tunis. It said most appeared to be Tunisians, and others were from sub-Saharan Africa. Because of its proximity to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, Mahdia is frequently a starting point for migrants from the Middle East and Africa trying to escape poverty, conflict and persecution. In a separate incident Monday, the coast guard recovered the bodies of eight migrants off Tunisia’s southern port town of Zarzis, near the Libyan border.