(Updates with deaths)

ISMAILIA, Egypt, March 9 (Reuters) - A cargo ship sank in the Red Sea on Monday, killing at least three of the 26 crew, sources at Egypt's port authority said on Monday.

Rescuers, some using helicopters, were searching for 17 sailors after saving six of the crew, the sources said.

The ship, called Ibn Battuta, was carrying about 5,600 tonnes of glassworks to the United Arab Emirates before it went down near the Egyptian port of Safaga.

The sources could not immediately say why the ship, with a crew of Sudanese, Indians, and Pakistanis, had capsized.

In 2006, an Egyptian ferry sank in the Red Sea, killing more than 1,000 passengers. (Reporting by Yusri Mohamed; Writing by Will Rasmussen; Editing by Matthew Jones)

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