"One person is dead, there are three survivors and 46 people including two members of the boat's crew are reported as missing," a navy officer who declined to be named said.

According to the authorities the vessel was overloaded when it got caught in a storm on Sunday. It was carrying 50 passengers, they said.

The traditional canoe-like boat provided a ferry service between the coastal town of Biombo and Pecixe island. It was carrying members of a local Islamic organisation who were travelling to the island for religious ceremonies, the navy said.

The authorities said they sent search teams to the area.

"For the moment the search has been in vain," another navy officer told AFP. Observers say the chances of finding survivors are low.

The traditional pirogue is the vessel most used by the population of Guinea Bissau to get from the mainland to the around 90 islands that dot the poor country's Atlantic coast. Some 25,000 people live on the islands.

"The pirogues are often overloaded and there are no life jackets," Filipe Cardoso, an island inhabitant, told AFP by phone.

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