TUNIS, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian coast guards on Wednesday retrieved 20 bodies of undocumented immigrants after their boat sank off the coast of the southeastern Sfax province, the Tunisian National Guard said via its Facebook account.

"The boat sank about 13 nautical miles off the coast of Ellouza village after it had sailed last night at 11 p.m. local time from the coast of Chebba," the National Guard said in a statement.

The boat was carrying immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa who tried to cross the Mediterranean illegally toward the Italian island of Lampedusa, it said, noting that five immigrants were rescued, given necessary aid, and then transported to nearby ports for further medical care, registration, and legal processing.

The search for the missing, the number of whom was not specified, is still underway, it added.

Located in the central Mediterranean, Tunisia is one of the most popular transit points for illegal immigration to Europe. Enditem

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