TUNIS, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian coast guards have retrieved five bodies of immigrants, whose boat bound for Italy sank off the southeastern Sfax Province of Tunisia, private radio station Mosaique FM reported on Monday.
The boat was carrying 35 migrants, including women and children, the majority of them Tunisian nationals, according to a local official quoted by the radio.
The boat sank off the coast of Sfax at Monday dawn when the immigrants were trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Twenty-three of the immigrants were rescued, the radio said, adding that the authorities are still searching for the missing.
The island of Lampedusa, the first stop usually chosen by illegal immigrants for their sea voyage toward Italy, is only about 80 km from the Tunisian coasts. ■