The Titanic of the Red Sea

A tragedy in the making:

An Egyptian passenger ship carrying about 1,300 people sank in the Red Sea overnight during bad weather, and rescue ships arriving at the scene Friday pulled dozens of bodies from the water, an official said. Thirty survivors were rescued, some in lifeboats.

A spokesman for the Egyptian Embassy told the British Broadcasting Corp. that "dozens of bodies of victims" had been pulled from the choppy waters between Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

The 35-year-old ship, Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98, went down 40 miles off the Egyptian port of Hurghada, the head of the Egyptian Maritime Authority, Mahfouz Taha Marzouk, told The Associated Press.

The ship was loaded with workers, and possibly pilgims returning from the Hajj. This is the second sinking for this shipping company in just a few months:

A ship owned by the same company, also carrying pilgrims, collided with a cargo ship at the southern entrance to the Suez Canal in October, causing a stampede among passengers trying to escape the sinking ship. Two people were killed and 40 injured.

Some survivors have been sighted, but weather conditions in the area are still rough.