At least 70 people are feared drowned after an overloaded motorboat taking villagers to a funeral capsized in the Arabian Sea off southern Pakistan yesterday, government and navy officials said.

Only ten survived when the vessel ferrying 80 people from Jangisar town, 100km southeast of the port city of Karachi, sank on the way to a nearby village, said Sindh Province government spokesman Salahuddin Haider.

"Seventy people including women and children are now feared drowned," Haider said, raising the toll from an earlier estimate of 60. "Ten have survived and at least 13 bodies have been recovered so far."

An inquiry into why the boat was overloaded and whether the authorities had failed to stop the accident had been ordered by Sindh governor Ishratul Ebad, Haider said.

"This is a great tragedy, especially as it happened on the Eid holiday," added the spokesman.

Navy divers were still at the scene working to rescue any remaining survivors and recover the bodies of the victims, Pakistani Navy spokesman Commander Mohammed Salman said.

"They were going from Jangisar to Ali Mohammed village to offer condolences for the death of a relative when a tide hit their boat and it capsized," Salman said.

Sami Memon, a spokesman for the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, a non-governmental organisation, said up to 75 people were feared dead after the vessel capsized at around 6:30am.

PHOTO CAPTION

Relatives stand next to the bodies of the victims of a Pakistani ferry incident near Keti Bandar, 70 km (45 miles) from Karachi November 4, 2005. (REUTERS)