KERKENNAH (TUNISIA): The Tunisian navy has recovered seven more corpses from a shipwreck of migrants at the weekend, bringing the overall number of dead to 55, the interior ministry said Tuesday.
"The search team has succeeded in recovering seven corpses, bringing to 55" the number of bodies found, the ministry said in a statement.
Ministry spokesman Khalifa Chibani earlier on Tuesday said the dead identified so far were "36 Tunisians and 12 foreigners", referring to migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.
A total of 68 survivors -- including 60 Tunisians -- have been rescued since search operations began early Sunday off the Mediterranean coast of Tunisia's southern city of Sfax.
Survivors said there were at least 180 people on board when the overloaded fishing vessel began to sink late Saturday night near Tunisia's Kerkennah Islands off Sfax.
Search efforts continued Tuesday, with a helicopter flying over the island chain, according to an AFP journalist on site.
'Frustration and despair'
In a visit to the area, Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said "social reasons pushed these young people into this adventure, compounded by a state of frustration and despair".
On Monday, the premier had called for greater efforts to quickly dismantle the "criminal networks that profit from these young people looking to emigrate and putting their lives in danger".
Tunisian authorities are hunting for eight suspects, all of whom are from Kerkennah, the interior ministry said.
The shipwreck is the deadliest in the Mediterranean since February 2, when 90 people drowned off the coast of Libya, according to the International Organization for Migration.
On Monday the IOM said "at least 112 people died" in the weekend wreck, with dozens still missing based on survivors' accounts of passenger numbers.
The UN refugee agency said it was "deeply saddened at this latest tragedy in the Mediterranean."
Spokesman William Spindler expressed concern over "the high number of people dying on the Central Mediterranean route," with more than 700 people recorded as dead or missing so far this year.
The Sfax sinking came as Italy's new hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini visited the Italian island of Sicily -- one of the main landing points for migrants attempting to reach Europe from Tunisia and Libya.
Salvini used the trip on Sunday to promote his anti-immigration stance, saying he would not allow Italy to become "the refugee camp" of Europe.
Tunisians and other migrants regularly try to cross the Mediterranean to seek a better future in Europe.
In March, 120 people -- mostly Tunisians -- were rescued by the navy as they tried to reach the Italian coast.