TUNIS, Oct 4: Seventeen would-be immigrants drowned and 47 were missing after a boat that was to have carried them across the Mediterranean broke up and sank off the Tunisian coast at the weekend , the Tunisian navy and eyewitnesses said on Monday.

The boat, which was carrying 75 people in all, sank overnight in the early hours of Sunday, the navy said, in a statement carried by the official TAP news agency. The vessel was attempting to sail to Italy.

Eyewitnesses said the boat broke in two around an hour after it had sailed overnight from a beach in Sousse province, on the country's eastern coast. The navy said a helicopter, a launch and a ship were sent out to try and find survivors. -AFP