Tunis, Apr 14 (IANS): Tunisian National Guard has said that the number of bodies of illegal immigrants retrieved off the country's southeastern coast rose to 25 with the recovery of 15 more bodies.

"By carrying out the necessary technical examinations, it was discovered that one of the bodies belonged to a 20-year-old Tunisian, and the rest belonged to people from sub-Saharan African countries, including six women," Tunisian National Guard's Spokesman Houcemeddine Jbabli said in a statement on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the Tunisian guard units rescued 72 people and retrieved 10 bodies of illegal immigrants off the Louata coast in the Sfax province, Xinhua news agency reported.

Hatem Cherif, the regional director of health of the Sfax province, recently told media that the number of bodies of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan African countries, currently deposited in the morgue of the University Hospital Center Habib Bourguiba, exceeded its capacity.

Located in the central Mediterranean, Tunisia is one of the most popular transit points for illegal immigrants seeking to reach Europe.

The number of undocumented immigrants attempting to reach Italy via Tunisia has been on the rise, despite the strict measures taken by the Tunisian authorities to tackle illegal immigration.