(TAP) – Sixteen more bodies of illegal migrants were recovered on Monday following the collision between an illegal migrant boat and a Navy vessel on October 8 off Kerkennah Island, bringing the total number of victims of this tragedy to 34, spokesperson for the National Defence Ministry Belhassan Oueslati told TAP.

The sixteen bodies were pulled from the sea on Monday morning and afternoon. They were stuck inside the boat, he explained noting that research operations are still underway.

The National Navy diving support vessel "Zarzis" managed to locate on Sunday the shipwreck of the illegal migrant boat and helped recover ten bodied, the National Defence Ministry said Sunday in a press release.

Another body was fished out far from the site and 38 people were rescued, the same source added.

The National Defence Ministry initiated on Monday an investigation so as to determine the circumstances of this accident.

National Navy units had collided on October 8 with a boat of unknown origin off El Attaya beach in Kerkennah. 38 people were rescued and 8 bodies were fished out as stated in the Defence Ministry’s initial report.

Several members of the missing people’s families had gathered last Tuesday in front of Sfax’s main naval base so as to learn about their relatives’ fate. They attributed full responsibility for the accident to the Navy vessel.