Four people died and 22 others were injured after a barge in the Gulf of Suez sank, the Egyptian government said Wednesday, Al Arabiya reports.

The barge Adam Marine 12 sank on Tuesday night, the Egyptian health ministry said, without providing details of the cause of the capsizing.

The four people who died were brought to Egypt’s Hurghada hospital on the Red Sea coast, the ministry said on social media.

Egypt’s petroleum ministry said on Facebook it had received a report from Offshore Shukheir Oil Company (Osoco) that the barge capsized in the Gebel El-Zeit area in the Gulf of Suez.

The area is around 300 kilometers (190 miles) south of the Suez Canal, a key waterway linking Europe and Asia.

The canal accounted for about 10 percent of global maritime trade before Yemen’s Houthi militia began attacking vessels transiting the Red Sea in late 2023.

The Houthi militia says its attacks are committed in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel and the militant group Hamas have been at war since October 2023.