MIAMI, USA (AFP): At least 22 people died and dozens more were missing after a sailboat packed with Haitian migrants capsized on Friday in shark-infested waters while being towed by a police boat, the US Coast Guard reported.

Several of the bodies reportedly appeared to have been chewed up by sharks.

"Those are the reports provided by Turks and Caicos police," the force which was towing the boat, said US Coast Guard (USCG) spokesman Luis Diaz.

The waters off the Atlantic archipelago are teeming with sharks.

The USCG initially assisted police in the British overseas territory in searching for about 56 Haitians reported missing, but was eventually told its help was no longer needed, said Diaz.

A total of 73 people were rescued and 22 bodies were spotted after the boat capsized early Friday about half a mile off Providenciales, one of the Turks and Caicos Islands. The USCG said the vessel capsized as it was being towed ashore.

The ill-fated boat, which measured between 25-30 feet, was apparently headed for the United States, 560 miles away, with some 150 people aboard.

Every year, hundreds of Haitians fleeing their impoverished and violence-torn nation in search of a better life make the illegal sea voyage aboard often overcrowded boats.

Since 2001, a total of almost 400 people have been reported dead or missing at sea as they sought to travel from Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic to the United States.

In March, a USCG crew recovered five bodies after a sailing freighter with 56 Haitians aboard caught fire and capsized off the Dominican Republic.

Since January, 909 Haitians have been interdicted by the Coast Guard as they tried to make their way illegally to the United States.

On Friday, a Coast Guard vessel repatriated 195 migrants to Cap Haitien, Haiti, and the previous day, 60 Cubans were dropped off at Bahia de Cabanas, Cuba, the USCG said.

"We will continue to aggressively patrol to interdict undocumented migrants at sea, to halt migrant smuggling and to rescue migrants from unseaworthy or grossly overloaded vessels as well as the other perils that often befall them on these ill-advised and inherently dangerous journeys," said USCG lieutenant Commander Chris O'Neil.