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A putrid odor persists outside a morgue in the coastal city of Gabes, Tunisia, while dozens of bodies of applicants for emigration to Europe, removed from the sea, waiting to be buried.
A series of deadly wrecks since May has left the North African country submerged by corpses and striving to find a definitive resting place.
More than 80 drowned migrants were recovered in Tunisian waters – most of them victims of a fatal sinking on July 1 leaving only three survivors.
Fished out of the sea between the port city of Zarzis and the tourist island of Djerba to the south, their bodies were transported to the hospital of Gabes – the only institution in the region able to take samples from the sea. 39; DNA.
Under pressure from civil society groups, Tunisian authorities have stepped up their efforts to systematically collect the DNA of every unidentified migrant drowned, told AFP Hechmi Lakhrech, director of the hospital .
The samples may well be the only hope to inform the families of the victims of their fate, he added.
At the basement morgue, staff use surgical masks or simple scarves to combat the stench of corpses lying on the ground.
& # 39; Submerged & # 39;
Since July 6, the figures have "exceeded" the 30 bodies of the morgue, said Lakhrech.
With only two forensic doctors and two badistants, not to mention the lack of equipment, the center struggles to keep them properly, he added.
After forensic tests, the bodies are kept at the morgue until the discovery of a burial place, which is complicated in Tunisia, according to the governor of Gabès, Mongi Thameur.
Many municipalities have refused to allow drowned migrants to be buried in their cemeteries.
"Some fear that the bodies carry cholera, and others refuse to bury people in Muslim cemeteries if their religion is unknown," he told AFP.
It amounts to "a problem of mentality and also of humanity in some cases," he said, adding that many people needed to be "sensitized".
At the cemetery of Bouchama, the only one in Gabes to have accepted until now the bodies of migrants, 16 tombs dug on the side are empty.
"My parents are resting here, I do not want non-Muslims to be buried by their side," said a resident of the locality.
"Phenomenal problem"
In front of the hospital, the stifling noon heat subsides, while 14 white bags are carefully loaded in the back of a garbage truck.
Once loaded, he will make the two-hour commute to Zarzis, where an improvised cemetery flooded with migrants' bodies for several years is now filled and a new one has just been opened.
Each grave is marked with a simple plaque bearing the victim's file number and the date of burial.
"On July 12, we collected 45 bodies in one day!" The deputy mayor of the city of Zarzis, Faouzi Khenissi, described the situation as a "phenomenal problem".
The city took the bodies "because we have this culture, we can not leave the remains without burial," he said.
Zarzis is a hotspot for illegal departures in Europe and Khenissi said that part of the city's youth had also been a victim of wrecks.
Municipal employees and public servants take voluntary shifts after work to perform burials
After three hours of preparation under the blazing sun, 14 bodies are buried alongside the 47 others already buried on the new site, just outside a safe haven for rescued migrants.
Mongi Slim, from the country's Red Crescent Society, called for "international mobilization" to tackle the problem that "does not concern only Tunisia".
"The country is already struggling to care for the rescued migrants, but even more so for those who have died."
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