Seven bodies wash up on Algeria beach

ALGIERS: The bodies of seven people, believed to be migrants who drowned trying to reach Europe, washed up on an Algerian beach on Saturday, the emergency services said.

The bodies of the three men and four women had started decomposing and their identities were not immediately clear, the emergency services said.

Winds of up to 70 kilometres (45 miles) per hour had swept the seas off the northwestern port city of Mostaganem in recent days.

According to lawyer Kouceila Zerguine, who acts for migrants’ families, there has been an upsurge in attempted illegal crossings of the Mediterranean from Algerian ports in recent weeks, particularly from Annaba in the northeast.

According to the most recent report from EU border control agency Frontex, more than 3,7000 migrants crossed the western Mediterranean in the first five months of 2020, around half of them Algerians.