More than 50 people were on board of the two ferryboats, Nile News TV said, adding that six people were injured and a number of people were rescued.

Rescue efforts are under way and the accident is under investigation, Beheira Governor Mohamed Sharawi told MENA.

As one of the worst maritime disaster in Egypt, Al-Salam 98 ferryboat, carrying some 1,400 passengers, caught fire and sank into the Red Sea en route from Saudi port of Dhaba to the Egyptian Red Sea port of Safaga in February 2006. A total of 1,034 people, most of them Egyptians, died in the accident.