At least 15 people including two children were killed after a cargo boat collided with a ferry on the Nile on Wednesday, hospital, security and political sources said.
The captain of the cargo boat and his deputy were arrested after the accident north of the capital, Cairo, police sources said.
Six passengers out of the 25 on board the ferry were saved and a search took place for four still missing, the interior ministry said.
There had been numerous children on the boat, security and hospital sources said.
There are many accidents on the Nile and off Egypt’s coast each year. In February 2006, an Egyptian ferry sank in the Red Sea, killing more than 1,000 people.