A fishing boat packed with 257 migrants heading for Europe has sunk off the Libyan coast and at least 10 Egyptians are among the dead, the Egyptian state news agency MENA said this evening.

MENA quoted an Egyptian Foreign Ministry official as saying rescue workers had rescued at least six Egyptians. It gave no word on the fate of migrants of other nationalities on board.

Two boats of approximately the same size arrived in Malta earlier this year, with some of their passengers being Egyptian.