By Mohammed Amin

KHARTOUM, Sudan

The Sudanese authorities are searching for 12 Egyptian fishermen who went missing after their boat sank in Sudanese territorial waters in the Red Sea.

According to Egyptian reports, the "Zinat al-Bahr" set out from a port in Sudan’s Red Sea province ten days ago to conduct fishing activities in international waters.

On Saturday, however, the Sudanese maritime authorities received a distress call from the vessel before losing contact with it, the Sudanese navy announced Sunday.

Sudanese army spokesman Ahmed al-Shami told Anadolu Agency that the authorities had since dispatched a ship to search the area between Sudanese and Eritrean territorial waters where the boat is believed to have sunk.

According to al-Shami, the Sudanese Coast Guard has so far found two survivors on a small island in the Red Sea, while maintaining the search for the missing vessel’s 12 remaining passengers.

"We’re still searching for the survivors or the boat itself, which we believe sank due to strong wind and inclement weather," al-Shami said, adding that the two survivors had been taken to Port Sudan Hospital on Saturday.

According to officials at the Egyptian embassy in Khartoum’s press office, the Egyptian authorities are following up on the incident with their Sudanese counterparts, including

Sudan’s Foreign Ministry, with a view to ascertaining the fate of the fishermen.

According to Egyptian reports, the doomed boat sank after striking a series of coral reefs in the Red Sea.