ROSETTA, Egypt — The bodies of 162 people had been pulled from the waters off the Egyptian coast by Friday, two days after a boat carrying hundreds of migrants capsized in the Mediterranean while attempting to head to Europe.

Dozens more are feared dead, said Mohammed Sultan, the governor of Beheira, who provided the latest figures. Many of the dead are believed to be children and women who were unable to swim away when the boat sank.

Between 20 to 30 bodies were brought in by coast guards in gray inflatable boats and fishermen in wooden boats early Friday morning and delivered to ambulances at the coast guard pier, according to a reporter near the Nile Delta city of Rosetta. Pictures posted on social networking sites showed dozens of bodies lined up in black plastic bags, and others floating near wooden fishing boats.

In one video, a fisherman was heard shouting into his mobile phone that, ‘‘the sea is littered with bodies.’’

Many of those who gathered at the shore where the bodies arrived appeared to be wearing surgical masks to protect them from the smell of decaying bodies.

Associated Press