Egypt arrest four over migrant boat disaster which killed more than 40

Four people have been arrested in connection with the death of more than 40 migrants after a Europe-bound boat capsized off Egypt's Mediterranean coast.

Officials did not release information about the four but said the boat was carrying 600 African migrants headed to Europe.

They have been remanded into police custody for four days pending further investigation.

The Egyptian military said the boat was 12 nautical miles off the coast near the town of Rosetta when it capsized on Wednesday.

Rescue workers recovered the bodies of 31 people, 20 men, 10 women and one child, on Wednesday in the sea off Burg Rashid, a village in the northern Beheira province.

A Reuters correspondent later saw a fishing boat bring in 12 more bodies, bringing the total to at least 43.

Hundreds have been rescued, officials said, but many could still be missing.

"Initial information indicates that the boat sank because it was carrying more people than its limit. The boat tilted and the migrants fell into the water," a senior security official told Reuters.

The boat had been carrying Egyptian, Sudanese, Eritrean, and Somali migrants, officials said.

It was not immediately clear where the boat had been heading. Officials said they believed it was going to Italy.