The boat sank off the coast of Mahdia, said Houssem Jebabli, a national guard official, without giving further details.

The latest deaths come as Italian officials on the island of Lampedusa said that a record 2,000 asylum seekers had arrived in Lampedusa within 24 hours.

According to United Nations, more than 12,000 migrants who landed on Italy's shores this year left from Tunisia. (ILKHA)