The bodies of 150 African refugees fleeing turmoil in Libya have been recovered off the Tunisian coast after the vessels carrying them illegally to Europe got into difficulty.

A UN official said, the boats encountered problems on Tuesday about 20 kilometres off the Tunisian island of Kerkennah as they headed for Italy.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said, so far 150 bodies of refugees have been found off the shores of Kerkennah. He said, search operations are continuing.

Tunisian coastguards and military rescued 570 people, but many others went into the water when a stampede to get off the small fishing boats capsized some of the vessels. In all about 250 people were reported on Thursday as missing from the vessels.