The Italian authorities have launched a search for a Syracuse-based trawler after three of its crewmen were found on two rafts off Greece.

The three men reported that they had heard shooting on board before being ordered to board the rafts.

The incident is understood to have taken place on Friday night.

The trawler, Fatima II, had sailed for Porto Palo and was fishing some 90 miles off the Libyan coast when the incident happened. The Italian crewmen were below decks at the time.

They told the authorities that they suspected that the traweler may have been taken over by two Egyptians and a Tunisian who were also part of the crew.

One of the Italian crewmen managed to raise the alert by phoning home from the raft. The three were found by a merchant ship and taken to Greece.

Nothing is know of the whereabouts of the trawler or its master. The coastguards of Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Tunisia have been asked to keep a lookout, with the Italian authorities suspecting that the trawler may be heading for Egypt.