Tunisia migrant boat toll rises

The death toll from the sinking of a boat carrying North African migrants across the Mediterranean has risen to 53, with 11 passengers still missing, Tunisian government officials said on Saturday.

The boat was carrying 75 illegal migrants - 70 Moroccans and five Tunisians - when it sank off the coast of Tunisia a few hours after it set off for Italy last Sunday, they said.

"We recovered 25 bodies in the last 48 hours... in addition to the 28 bodies we had found earlier following the boat tragedy," a senior official told Reuters.

"We rescued 11 people and 11 are still missing," said another senior official, adding the research efforts were continuing despite the slim hopes of finding any more survivors. The 11 rescued were 10 Moroccans and one Tunisian, but authorities had not yet identified the nationalities of the dead. The Tunisian government, eager to maintain good relations with Italy, has stepped up efforts to crack down on the smuggling of illegal migrants across the Mediterranean.

But rickety boats still leave Tunisia and Libya packed with migrants from North and sub-Saharan African states. They often head to the Italian island of Lampedusa, which is closer to North Africa than to Sicily or mainland Italy.