ROME, Aug 19: At least 10 people were killed and some 40 were missing after a boat crammed with African illegal immigrants sank off southern Italy on Saturday, sparking a search for survivors.

Seventy passengers were rescued and the bodies of four women and six men were recovered, but survivors said the death toll was sure to mount, a port official in the Sicilian city of Palermo said.

“We are continuing our search, but we don’t know if there are more bodies to be found,” he said. “It seems that that is the case according to accounts from survivors.”

The Italian news agency Ansa quoted one survivor as saying there were 120 people on board the vessel, and that 40 people were missing.

The 10-metre boat was spotted before dawn around 15 kilometres off the coast of Lampedusa island by an Italian Navy ship, the Minerva, which went to help.

It sank suddenly 10 minutes later and the crew of the Italian ship took to lifeboats in a desperate effort to pluck survivors from the sea, pulling some 70 people to safety.

Several coastguard vessels, a search plane and a helicopter were scouring the area but have so far only been able to recover bodies, officials said.

Port authorities said the search operation would continue throughout the morning.

There was no immediate explanation for the tragedy, which took place in relatively calm seas and light winds.

Interior Minister Giuliano Amato slammed the smuggling of illegal immigrants as a “crime” and called for the culprits to be tracked down.

The first statements from survivors suggest the boat left from Libya with north Africans, Somalians and Eritreans on board.

Lampedusa, south of Sicily and 300 kilometres from the Libyan coast, has been facing waves of illegal immigrants on often precarious craft.

Dozens of boats have been intercepted south of Sicily in recent weeks.

The Italian interior ministry said 178 boats with 10,414 people on board arrived on the island between January 1 and July 31 this year, compared with 6,901 illegal immigrants during the same period of 2005.

—AFP