Tunisia migrant death toll hits 35

TUNIS, June 03 (AFP): The bodies of 35 migrants have been recovered off Tunisia's southern coast, the country's defence ministry said on Sunday.

As of 1300 local time, "35 bodies were recovered and 68 migrants rescued," a spokesman for the defence ministry told the news agency.

The interior ministry had earlier said the bodies of 11 migrants had been recovered and 67 people rescued off the coast of Sfax province after the navy and national guard responded to a distress call from a boat that was "about to sink." The bodies of 11 migrants have been recovered and 67 others rescued after their boat began sinking off Tunisia's southern coast, the interior ministry said Sunday.

Those rescued from the fishing vessel off the coast of southern Sfax province included "Tunisians and foreigners", it said citing an initial toll.

The Tunisian national guard and navy units found the ship about 30 kilometres off shore after receiving a distress call at around midnight on Saturday.

The ministry said search operations, with the help of military aircraft and divers, were ongoing.