Tunisia’s coastguard recovered 15 bodies washed up on beaches in the eastern province of Mahdia, where irregular migration is rife, over the weekend, a judicial spokesman told AFP on Monday.
The bodies were recovered on Saturday and Sunday and samples were taken to identify them as they were decomposed, said Farid Ben Jha, spokesman for the Mahdia and Mastir courts.

A judicial inquiry has been opened to determine the nationality of the bodies ‘because they were too corroded to be recognised’, he said.
Tunisia and Libya are the main departure points in North Africa for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Italy.
On 30 September, 12 Tunisian migrants died and 29 others were rescued when a boat carrying them sank off the island of Djerba in southeastern Tunisia.