A boat carrying around 300 migrants sank off the Egyptian coast in the Mediterranean Sea, with at least 42 people reportedly drowned and 150 rescued.

Search teams were looking for more survivors from the incident which took place off the Mediterranean port city of Rosetta (Rasheed), two police officials said.

Health Ministry official Alaa Osman from Beheira province says that 155 people have been rescued, but that bodies are still being found in the area. He says the migrants were from several African countries. The authorities said the death toll reached 42.

The boat was carrying Egyptian, Syrian, Sudanese and other African migrants.

Egypt's official news agency MENA said the boat had been carrying 600 people, but this report could not be confirmed from other sources.

Thousands of illegal migrants have made the dangerous sea voyage across the Mediterranean in recent years fleeing war and poverty, mostly via lawless Libya. Thousands have drowned.