Tunisia recovers 15 migrants' bodies from sea near Libya

TUNIS (Reuters) - The Tunisian coast guard recovered on Friday the bodies of 15 migrants, most probably Syrians, who drowned when their boat sank in the Mediterranean Sea near the maritime border with Libya, officials said. They said the overcrowded boat probably started its ill-fated journey to Europe in neighbouring Libya, a frequent departure point for illegal migrants amid the country's growing political chaos. Migrants have been streaming out of North Africa in rickety boats in rising numbers for years. Italy now hosts over 108,000 of these boat people, Greece nearly 15,000 and Spain 1,800, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday. Nearly 2,000 have drowned this year while risking the passage from Libya to Europe, it said. Last week, a wooden boat carrying up to 200 migrants sank only a kilometer (half a mile) off the Libyan coast, the coast guard said.