Feature: Sorrow grips Egyptians over fatal shipwreck on Nile

"Our family cemetery isn't wide enough for burial of our victims in one time, " Moustafa Ali said when he stood outside the morgue room of Tahrir Hospital to receive corpses of his family members.

Ali has lost seven persons of his relatives including his wife and two children in two boats collision late on Wednesday.

Ali told Xinhua that two of his family's beloved are still missing, "I had to experience the grief of burial two times: we will hold a funeral and bury five bodies, then we will attend a second funeral for other two victims when retrieved."

Egypt's health ministry said on Friday that the death toll from a collision of cargo ship and a boat on the Nile carrying people celebrating the holidays of post-Ramadan feast on Wednesday has risen to 29, after several more bodies were retrieved from the river.

The death toll is to increase as the boat has carried nearly 50 passengers, according to eyewitnesses. Rescuers were still searching for more bodies, medic sources added.

State-run Ahram website quoted a security source on Friday as saying Egypt Nile boat accident death toll rises to 37.

Some 150m far from the coast, the front of the boat has appeared on the surface, with some of the remained ornaments and broken colored lamps, and silent music speakers that never stopped playing popular songs in very loud voice, while the backward of the boat was still sinking.

Awaiting people in lines near the coast were staring cautiously at the rescue team who appears from time to time around and near the boat sometimes with victims and many times with empty hands.

Families in queues were standing near the Nile river coast on Friday, while others are searching among the recovered bodies in hospitals for their missed relatives.

Mahmoud Moustafa, 45 years old, was among the awaiting lines in Embaba Hospital.

With tears rolled down his gloomy face, Moustafa told Xinhua that he has lost three children, and hasn't found his wife yet.

"Our house is near by the river, and my family gets used to take a trip boat for celebrations during the feasts," he said, adding that "it is the cheapest means for entertainment."

Nile rides are among favorite pastimes during the holidays, with three to five Egyptian pounds (less than one U.S. dollar) for each.

Mostly, the outing Nile boats are in bad conditions, and not subject for maintenance. But its decorations, loud music and cheap prices are all attractive means for moderate and low class categories.

Health ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar said it was not clear how many passengers were on the boat when it was hit by a scow.

It was the deadliest such incident on the Nile in years. The interior ministry had said the boat was damaged from the collision, causing it to sink.

The captain of the cargo boat and his assistants have been arrested following the accident in the Warraq district north of Cairo, the authorities said.

Ahmed Saber, 32 years fisherman who has recovered five bodies blamed the owner, whose 12m boat could only carry 20 people, and the coastal security forces who don't supervise those unlicensed boats, for the accident.

He also added the scow which caused the boat sunk was moving in illegal time, adding it was very difficult for the boat owner to notice its dark color, also the boat diver was using very loud DJ speakers and he couldn't recognize the signals of the cargo boat driver.

According to official statistics, 100,000 Egyptians use the Nile in moving from their residence to work daily, some 32 of which died drowning in Nile monthly.

In the deadliest accident involving a ferry, an Egyptian vessel sank in the Red Sea in 2006, killing more than 1,000 people. Endit