A woman and two children died after a boat of migrants sank in the Indian Ocean trying to reach the French island of Mayotte, a prosecutor told AFP on Monday.

"The provisional toll is three dead: a woman of 20 and two children whose bodies were found by the police maritime unit," said Joel Garrigue, prosecutor on Mayotte. 

A French court is due to deliver its much-anticipated verdict in the landmark trial of a Rwandan army captain accused of complicity in genocide on Friday, just weeks ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 1994 atrocity.

Prosecutors in the trial -- the first of its kind in France -- have asked for life imprisonment for Pascal Simbikangwa, branding him an ethnic "cleanser" who was "radically committed" to his work and a "man capable of the worst".

Three people were dead and 13 missing Monday after a boat carrying illegal immigrants capsized in the Indian Ocean off the French overseas territory of Mayotte, the local prefect's office said.

Eight others survived the accident on the boat, which had departed from the Comoran island of Anjouan, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Mayotte.

Six people died and 27 others were missing after a ship carrying illegal immigrants capsized in the Indian Ocean off the French overseas territory of Mayotte, local officials said Saturday.

Of the 36 people who boarded the boat on the Comoran island of Anjouan Friday evening, one survivor was taken in by rescue services while two others escaped.

At least seven people died and six people were missing after a ship carrying illegal immigrants capsized off the Indian Ocean French overseas territory of Mayotte, officials said Friday.

The boat was travelling from Anjouan in the Comoros with 24 people on board when it capsized during the night. Those who died were four children and three women. Another 11 people have been rescued, authorities said.