“The captain couldn’t move the boat; it kept swaying until it fell on its side”, said Mr Darwish, as he lay in a blue gown on a bed at the public hospital in the coastal village of Burg Rashed.
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That is, 18 men, 10 women, one child.
The authorities have not yet revealed where the boat was headed to, but they confirmed that about 150 people have been rescued, with 29 bodies retrieved so far.
Media reports indicated that the boat was carrying between 300 to 600 illegal immigrants when it sank as it embarked from the coast to the Mediterranean Sea, likely heading to Europe.
In a statement on Wednesday, Egyptian Prime Minister, Ismail Sharif, called for the “provision of all necessary care to survivors” and for authorities to “prosecute those responsible for the shipwreck”.
Four crew members were arrested Thursday after a boat believed to be carrying 450 migrants capsized off the Egyptian coast, according to state-run Nile TV.
The number of people trying to cross the Mediterranean from Egypt to Europe has increased significantly in the past year, according to the European Union border agency Frontex.
The Egyptian army announced Tuesday it had intercepted 68 migrants aboard a boat that was to undertake the crossing off the city of Marsa Matrouh (northwest).
Smugglers operating from Egypt often use old fishing boats for the long journey to Italy.
Following the closure of the Balkan route, Italy has now become the main entry point for migrants to Europe.
Some 206,400 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean this year, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) but crossings from Egypt remain relatively rare.
While the overall refugee numbers have been decreasing during the past several months in comparison to 2015, the death toll has remained alarmingly high.
But despite the lower numbers attempting the risky sea crossing, fatality rates had risen, with 2016 on track to be “the deadliest year on record in the Mediterranean Sea”, said the UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR.
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In June, a boat capsized near Sicily, drowning at least 169 migrants.
