TUNIS -At least 21 migrants from Africa died when their boat sank off Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a Tunisian official said on Friday.

"The boat sank during a trip that started late on Thursday from (the town of) Sfax... So far, the coastguard has recovered 21 bodies and the search is still continuing," Mouard Mechri, director of Tunisia's civil protection service, told Reuters.