At least four people have been arrested over a collision of two ferries on Egypt's Nile river.

Authorities detained the owners and captains of the two boats on Saturday, a day after the vessels struck each other near the northern Egyptian city of Rachid, which is also known as Rosetta.

Up to 60 people were feared missing immediately after the accident, and rescue workers combed the Nile during the night searching for survivors.

But local officials later said that the initial estimates were wrong, and that no one died in Friday's accident.

They said no bodies had been recovered and there had been no missing persons reports filed, either.

Investigation launched

Reports remained unclear as to what caused the collision, and police said they have opened an investigation.

However, Mohammed Sharawi, the provincial governor, told Egypt's official news agency that one of the boats capsized.

Egypt has frequent transportation accidents, mainly because of poor infrastructure.

In February 2006, a ferry in the Red Sea caught fire and sank en route to Egypt from Saudi Arabia, killing 1,034 of the 1,400 people on board.

An Egyptian appeals court in March this year found the owner of the ferry guilty of manslaughter and sentenced him to seven years in jail.

Mohamed Mansour, the transport minister, resigned in October over a train crash south of Cairo which killed 18 people.