People gather along the banks of the Nile River during a search for the victims of a boat accident on the River Nile in the Warraq area of Giza, Egypt, early July 23, 2015. (Reuters)
Rescuers recovered seven more bodies from the Nile after a party boat collided with a cargo ship earlier this week, raising the death toll to 36, Egyptian officials said today.
The accident, the deadliest such incident on the Nile in years, occurred late Wednesday when the victims were celebrating an engagement on a vessel that was struck by a cargo ship.
The captain of the cargo boat and his assistants were arrested following the accident in the Warraq district north of Cairo. They have been charged with manslaughter.
"We have recovered 36 bodies," General Magdi Al-Shalaqami from the interior ministry told AFP, raising the death toll from an earlier figure of 29.
Rescuers were still searching for more bodies, he said, with search operations expanded to other provinces.
Health ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said among those dead were 20 children, some aged four.
The Nile, which runs along the length of Egypt, is dotted with cargo ships, party boats and fishing vessels.
In 2011, at least 22 people drowned in southern Egypt's Beni Suef province when a bus they were in fell into the Nile from a ferry which crashed into the river bank.