Up to 21 illegal immigrants drowned when the small boat in which they were travelling sank off the French overseas territory of Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean, the island's police said on Friday, reported dpa.
According to the 12 people rescued by fishermen and taken to hospital, the boat was carrying 26 adults and seven children when it apparently struck a coral reef and sank shortly after midnight local time.
Two bodies have been found in the sea and another 19, five of them children, were missing. Little hope was held out for finding them alive, police said.