(TAP) - Premier Youssef Chahed called Sunday's collision between a naval ship and a migrant boat off Kerkennah (governorate of Sfax) "a national catastrophe" and said he shared in the pain of the families of victims.

He also said in an interview aired on Thursday evening on private TV station El Hiwar Ettounsi he gave instructions at a Cabinet meeting to determine liability and tasked regional authorities with inquiring about the situation of families.

There is need to focus on illegal immigration, he emphasised.

A naval ship collided with a boat of unknown origin on Sunday, 54 km from El Attaya beach in Kerkennah.

Eight bodies were recovered and thirty-eight passengers were rescued.