TUNIS (Reuters) - The death toll from a migrant shipwreck off Tunisia on Friday has risen to 17 people, most of them Syrians, as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, a civil protection official told Reuters on Saturday.

       He said the coastguard recovered five bodies on Saturday, after finding 12 on Friday. A search was still under way.

       In recent months, several people have drowned off the Tunisian coast, with an increase in the frequency of attempted crossings to Europe from Tunisia and Libya towards Italy.

       (Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by David Clarke)