Egyptian prosecutors have remanded four men in custody on suspicion of people trafficking after a migrant boat capsized with dozens feared to have drowned.
The four suspects are accused of involuntary manslaughter and human trafficking, judicial and security officials said.
At least 52 bodies have been recovered from the sea after yesterday's disaster off the Egyptian coast.
The boat sank early on Wednesday off Burg Rashed, a village in Egypt's northern Beheira province where the Nile meets the Mediterranean.
Rescue workers and fishermen have rescued 169 people, suggesting hundreds might have perished at sea.
The deadly incident comes months after the European Union's border agency Frontex warned that growing numbers of migrants bound for Europe were turning to Egypt as a departure point for the perilous sea voyage.
Traffickers often use barely seaworthy vessels and overload them to extract the maximum money in fares for the crossing from desperate migrants.
