The death toll of a migrant boat disaster off the Egyptian coast is feared to be hundreds after rescue workers pulled at least 162 bodies out of the water.

A search operation is continuing after a boat capsized on Wednesday carrying up to 600 migrants, nearly 7.5 miles from the Nile Delta port city of Rosetta.

Many of the dead are women and children who were unable to swim away when the boat sank in the Mediterranean.

It is feared hundreds more bodies may be recovered after only 150 migrants were rescued alive.

Egypt's state news agency MENA quoted Wahdan el-Sayyed, spokesman for the Nile Delta province of Beheira, as saying that the search operation is continuing for more bodies.

Of the 150 people rescued, UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said the majority are Egyptians, Sudanese and other nationalities including Somalians and Eritreans.

Four people described as smugglers were arrested on Thursday and authorities are investigating.

Egypt has been a traditional route for migrants trying to reach Europe by sea but since 2014, there has been an increase in the number being intercepted while trying to leave.

More than 4,600 people of different nationalities were arrested this year, UNCHR said, a 28% increase on last year.

However, EU border agency Frontex said more than 12,000 migrants arrived in Italy from Egypt between January and September, compared with 7,000 in the same period last year.

The head of the local council in the area, Ali Abdel-Sattar, said water currents have carried bodies many miles from where it sank.

He added that many of the migrants are believed to have been "stored in the bottom of the boat, in the fridge".

He said the boat may have sunk more than 50ft below sea level.

The UN's migration monitor said the death toll among people trying to reach Europe by the Mediterranean this year has passed 3,500 and is "rapidly approaching" the record level set last year.

The IOM has been recalculating its estimates of deaths in the Mediterranean last year, but believes that at least 3,675 people died.

More than 300,000 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean this year so far, the International Organisation for Migration said, many arriving in Greece and Italy.

More than a million crossed in all of 2015, but the rate of deaths is far higher this year.