Yaounde, Cameroon ? Fishermen searched the seas off Cameroon on Thursday for 127 people feared dead after a ferry sank.

The boat was bound for the central African nation of Gabon from a town in Nigeria near Cameroon’s border. First word of the accident came when fishermen found bodies floating Wednesday off the port town of Kribi, said a top regional official, Gregoire Mvombo.

He cited survivors as saying 150 people from Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast were onboard, and 23 people were rescued. The cause of the accident was not immediately known.