CAIRO, Feb. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- At least 185 people have been found dead so far from an Egyptian ferry which sank in the Red Sea overnight on Friday, sources said.

Huo Wenjie (R), first secretary of the Chinese embassy to Egypt, talks with an Egyptian official to verify the passengers list aboard the sunk cruiser.

    A total of 185 bodies have been recovered by rescue teams and over 200 people have been found alive, said a source in the Safaga port, some 600 km southeast of the capital Cairo.

    Massive rescue operation is still continuing despite the dark night and bad weather condition, the source added.

    The ill-fated Al-Salaam 98, with 1,414 passengers aboard, sank overnight en route from the Dubah port in Saudi Arabia to the Egyptian Red Sea port of Safaga after disappearing from radar screen.

    The ship is owned by the Egyptian company El-Salaam Maritime Transport Co. and most passengers on board are Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia who were returning to Egypt.

    It is the second time that a cruiser owned by the company suffered a major accident in less than four months.

    Al-Salaam 95, sister ship of Al-Salaam 98, carrying about 1,250 Muslim pilgrims back from Saudi Arabia, collided with a Cypriot commercial vessel in the Gulf of Suez on Oct. 17, 2005, killing at least three and injuring dozens of others. Enditem