The boat, which was carrying 75 people in all, sank overnight in the early hours of yesterday, the Tunisian navy said Monday in a statement that was 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.

Late Sunday, 17 bodies were recovered but a further search by helicopter and naval ships later resulted in the recovery of five more.

Eleven of the occupants were either pulled alive from the water by the navy or managed to swim to shore.

It added that five of the occupants were Tunisian and the remaining 70 Moroccan. Of the 11 survivors, 10 were Moroccans and one a Tunisian.

Meanwhile the weekly Tunis Hebdo newspaper said the people in the boat were part of a group of some 280 who had gathered with the intention of trying to reach Europe.

The paper said that after the sinking of the boat most of the others -- around 200 in all -- were arrested in the region around the town of Nabeul, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital Tunis.