TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - At least 42 people have drowned after a migrant boat capsized off the Egyptian coast, officials say.

The boat was carrying about 600 passengers, of whom about 150 have been rescued, state media reported.

It capsized off the coast of Kafr al-Sheikh.

Wednesday's incident comes after the head of the EU's border agency warned that increasing numbers of Europe-bound migrants are using Egypt as a departure point.

The boat was transporting Egyptian, Syrian, Sudanese, Eritrean and Somali migrants, security officials told Reuters.

Health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said the number of bodies recovered had reached 42 after local officials earlier told Reuters that the bodies of 20 men, 10 women and one child had been retrieved.

Sudanese and "other African nationalities" are among the dead, AFP news agency reports.

It is not clear where the planned final destination was, although officials said the boat was probably heading for Italy.

Human rights researchers warned last month of a "devastating" lack of information for families of migrants thought to have drowned in the Mediterranean.

They say more than 6,600 refugees drowned in the Mediterranean in 2015 and the first half of this year.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) released figures in July suggesting that 2016 could become the worst year to date for migrant deaths.

It said that about 3,000 migrants and refugees had lost their lives so far this year trying to cross the Mediterranean.

But a report by UK academics warned that most bodies remain unidentified and their families are left not knowing if missing relatives are dead or alive.

The EU border agency Frontex said in August that more than 12,000 migrants arrived in Italy from Egypt between January and September, compared with 7,000 over the same period in 2015.

BBC NEWS | GHOIDA RAHMAH