World

Egypt's Health Ministry: 4 more bodies found, raising death toll in Nile boat collision to 35

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Egyptians look at the passenger boat that sunk in the river Nile in Giza, south of Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, July 23, 2015. Egypt's Interior ministry says more than a dozen civilians have drowned when the passenger boat traveling down the Nile near Cairo collided with a scow, causing the boat to capsize. (AP Photo/Samer Abdullah) (The Associated Press)

Egyptian rescuers look for victims of a passenger boat after it sank in the river Nile in Giza, south of Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, July 23, 2015. Egypt's Interior ministry says more than a dozen civilians have drowned when the passenger boat traveling down the Nile near Cairo collided with a scow, causing the boat to capsize. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) (The Associated Press)

Egypt's Health Ministry says four more bodies have been retrieved from the Nile River from a boat collision earlier this week, bringing the death toll to 35 people killed.

Ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar told The Associated Press that the search efforts continued Saturday.

The collision late Wednesday night happened when a passenger boat traveling down the Nile near Cairo collided with a scow, causing the boat to capsize. The scow's captain and his assistant have been detained on suspicion of manslaughter.

Nile traffic has been heavy, especially near Cairo, as Egyptians celebrated the Eid al-Fitr holiday following the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.