At least 22 people have been killed after an overloaded boat sank in the Atlantic Ocean off the Guinea-Bissau capital as rescue workers continue their search for some 69 others who remain missing.

The incident occurred on Friday as the boat was heading from the island of Boloma to Bissau with a total of 97 people aboard.

"Twenty-two bodies were recovered and six survivors were rescued," a rescue worker said, adding that a search operation was underway to rescue potential survivors.

The accident is said to have been caused by overloading and high ocean tides off the West African country.


Boloma is one of the many tiny islands, mostly uninhabited, in an archipelago off Bissau.

Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, has an estimated population of 1,600,000 and is bordered by Senegal to the north and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west.