At least 27 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have died in recent days in Libya's western desert near the border with Tunisia, Libyan authorities said on Tuesday.

Libya's Interior Ministry said the bodies were discovered recently near the border and that a forensic team had been deployed to the area.

Mohamed Hamouda, a spokesperson for the Libyan government, on Wednesday confirmed the discovery of the bodies but declined to provide any further details, AP reported.

Tunisia's eastern coast has overtaken neighboring Libya as the region's main launching point for migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, trying to get to Italy and other parts of Europe in small boats.

Libyan rights groups accused the Tunisian security forces of forcefully expelling the migrants and abandoning them in the desert without water or food.

Tunisia's Interior Minister Kamel Feki last week admitted that small groups of sub-Saharan migrants trying to enter the country are being pushed back into the desert border areas with Libya and Algeria. "Tunisia cannot support this large number of undocumented sub-Saharan migrants."

In a separate incident on Wednesday, 41 migrants are believed to have died after a boat carrying them capsized off the Tunisian coast. 

(With input from AP)

(Cover: A migrant collapses in an uninhabited area near Al-Assah on the Libya-Tunisia border, July 30, 2023. /CFP)