Some 20 sailors are missing after their cargo ship capsized off the Egyptian coast in the Red Sea on Monday, Egyptian port authority sources said.

The cargo ship, carrying some 5,600 tons of goods, sank near the Egyptian port of Safaga, about 450 km southeast of Cairo, said the sources.

Some six crew members have been saved from the sea and rescue teams have been searching for the missing crew, said the sources, adding the cause of the mishap remains unknown at the moment.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2009)