Egyptian rescue workers are reported to have recovered four bodies and several people are missing after passengers trying to board a ferry fell into the Nile river on Sunday.
An unidentified interior ministry official told the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) that the dead included three children.
The incident occurred in Abu Qurqas, a village near the city of Minya, 200km south of Cairo.
The ministry official said five other people were slightly injured.
The Egyptian police spoke of five bodies - one child, two women and two men - being recovered.
Fouad Saadeddin, the governor of Minya, a province in central Egypt, said seven people are still unaccounted for, while several security officials said at least 10 are missing.
"The current was so strong, so bodies could have drifted away from the site of the accident," he told Egyptian state-run television.
Rescue halted
Saadeddin said the final death toll would not be known until after the completion of rescue efforts, which were suspended on Sunday once darkness fell.
MENA quoted him as saying a large number of passengers were trying to get on the ferry when a ramp linking it to the river bank collapsed.
Security officials said one of the boat's railings also collapsed, sending more people into the water.
Television footage showed dozens of local residents gathered at the site watching police divers search for survivors.