Six African migrants who were trying to travel to Europe, have been confirmed dead and an estimated 30 declared missing in the Mediterranean Sea after their boat sank off the coast of Tunisia on Thursday.

In an announcement on Friday by the Tunisian Defense Ministry, the North African naval and coast guard forces retrieved the bodies, rescued 34 survivors and are still searching for the people listed as missing.

“The survivors told rescuers that the boat had 70 people on it and they were headed for Italy,” the ministry said.

“The boat had left from neighboring Libya and sank about 40 kilometers (24 miles) off the Tunisian town of Zarzis, near the Libyan border.

“The survivors included people from Egypt, Sudan and Ivory Coast,” Mongi Slim, head of the Tunisian Red Crescent also said.

The Tunisian Defense Ministry said authorities thwarted eight boat migration trips in the last 48 hours off the coast of the city of Sfax, and 130 people from Tunisia and sub-Saharan Africa were detained.