At least 40 migrants have gone missing off eastern Libya while onboard on a raft heading to Europe, an Italian coast guard official says.

The official said on Sunday that the Italian authorities sent rescue boats to the scene, 30 miles (48.28 kilometers) from Libya.

The official added that 55 people were saved out of around the 95 migrants onboard, according to survivors.

Last week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) put death figure from similar incidents in the waters between Italy and North Africa at nearly 3,000 since the beginning of 2014.

Some 130,000 have successfully reached Italy this way this year compared to the 60,000 in 2013, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says.

The Italian government launched "Mare Nostrum" or "Our Sea" search last year after 366 people were shipwrecked a mile away from Lampedusa, the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

The situation in Libya has made it a haven for the traffickers who charge their passengers $1000 to cram them into boats hoping to arrive in Europe someday.