RESCUERS pulled only a handful more survivors from the Red Sea yesterday, dashing hopes of survival for 1,000 people still missing after the sinking of a ferry.

More than 100 protesters demonstrated outside an Egyptian port today demanding to know the fate of family and friends on board the ferry which sank in the Red Sea.

Egyptian officials turned down offers of help from the Royal Navy after a Red Sea ferry caught fire and sank with the loss of more than 1,000 lives, it was revealed today.

Rescue boats have picked up 435 survivors from the Egyptian ferry that caught fire and sank in the Red Sea, police said today as their officers struggled to hold back hundreds of people trying to push their way into the port of Safaga to get information about their loved ones among the ship’s 1,400 passengers and crew.

Rescue boats and helicopters have converged in the choppy waters of the Red Sea, searching for survivors of an ageing ferry that sank with more than 1,400 people on board, mainly Egyptian workers returning from Saudi Arabia. Most were feared lost but officials said at least 324 made it to safety.

An Egyptian passenger ferry carrying around 1,300 people, mostly Egyptian workers returning from Saudi Arabia, sank in the Red Sea overnight.

Coast Guard vessels have pulled dozens of bodies from the water today after an Egyptian passenger ferry carrying around 1,300 people (or up to 1,415 according to some reports), mostly Egyptian workers returning from Saudi Arabia, sank in the Red Sea overnight.

Egyptian maritime director Mahfouz Taha Marzouk has said 12 survivors and 15 bodies have been picked up from a passenger ferry that has sunk in the Red Sea.

An Egyptian passenger ship carrying 1,300 people, including Muslim pilgrims returning from the hajj, has disappeared from radar screens in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast, Egyptian maritime officials said today. Bodies were spotted floating in the sea.

An Egyptian cruise ship with 1,300 people on board has disappeared from radar screens in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast, Egyptian maritime officials said today.

A bus crash south-east of Cairo killed seven Egyptian passengers and injured 40 others today, a police official said.