Tripoli (Sunatimes) A small boat with at least 40 illegal Somali immigrants on board has gone missing in the Mediterranean Sea after sailing off the Libyan coast five days ago, reports say.

Reports say the boat was last contacted by people in Libya via a satellite phone on Thursday, but were not heard since then, adding that those onboard could be at risk due to strong tides in the high seas.

A woman is said to have gave birth to a baby girls inside the boast as it sailed through rough and strong tides.

Most immigrants take a dangerous route to reach Italy, with other proceeding to other European countries in search of a better life.

Since the beginning of Libyan revolution, hundreds of Somalis heading to Europe were reportedly trickling into the country but many of them were later caught up in the fighting.

Earlier in September, the UN refugee agency has received over fifty Somali refugees from Libyan rebel fighters who found them in a building in Tajuda, where they were waiting to be smuggled into Europe.

The fighters found the 53 Somalis, including five women and one child, in a building in the eastern suburb of Tajura, one of the departure ports for illegal migration to Europe.

Most of the immigrants make the trip while aware of the conflict in Libya but never thought of it being worse than Somalia.

The influx of Somali immigrants into Libya prompted the Somali government to warn its citizens from making dangerous trips to Europe viaLibya.

Somali consul in Tripoli, Liban Muhyadin Ahmed Kalmoy earlier told Bar-kulan that hundreds of Somali immigrants were already stranded in parts of Libya, a time there has been deadly fighting in the country.

He said most of them were caught up in the fighting between rebel fighters and pro-Gaddafi fighters in the country as they were trying to cross to Italy from Libya.

By Dahir Alasow