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Hopes fade for the missing after Egypt ferry sink
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-04 16:01 "The swift sinking of the ferry and the lack of
sufficient lifeboats suggests there was some violation, but we cannot say until
the investigation is complete," said presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad,
quoted by the semiofficial news agency MENA.
Angry relatives confront
port officials and police at the entrance to the port in Safaga after a
ferry sank in the Red Sea. [AP] |
Egyptian regulations require life jackets on the boat, but implementation of
safety procedures is often lax. It was not known if the ship had enough life
jackets and whether the passengers put them on when the ship sank.
The ship, "Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98," left Thursday at 7:30 p.m. from the Saudi
port of Dubah on a 120-mile trip to Safaga, south of Hurghada. It had been
scheduled to arrive at 3 a.m.
The vessel went down between midnight and 2 a.m., when authorities lost
contact with it. No distress signal was received.
The ferry was carrying 1,200 Egyptian and 112 other passengers as well as 96
crew members, the head of Al-Salaam Maritime Transport Company Mamdouh Ismail
told The Associated Press. The passengers included 99 Saudis, three Syrians, two
Sudanese, and a Canadian, officials said. It was not clear where the other
passengers were from.
Tens of thousands of Egyptians work in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf
countries -- many of them from impoverished families in southern Egypt who
spend years abroad to earn money. They often travel by ship to and from Saudi
Arabia across the Red Sea, a cheaper option than flying. The Saudi port of Dubah
is a major transit point for them.
But some on board the ferry were believed to be Muslim pilgrims who had
overstayed their visas after last month's hajj pilgrimage to work in the
kingdom.
The agent for the ship in Saudi Arabia, Farid al-Douadi, said the vessel had
the capacity for 2,500 passengers. But the owner's Web site,
http://www.elsalammaritime.com/, said 387-foot-long boat had a capacity for
1,487 passengers and crew.
The Genoa-based Italian Naval Registry, which has certified the ferry for
safety since its construction in 1970, said the vessel never had any problems
and passed its last structural inspection in June 2005.
In 1991, the registry oversaw the construction of two additional decks on the
ferry to add passenger space for its then-owner, the Italian ferry company
Tirrenia di Navigazione SpA. In doing so, the boat grew in height, and to
compensate engineers also enlarged the base, said the registry's spokesman,
Mario Dogliana.
First confirmation of the sinking came when another ship owned by the same
company, the Saint Catherine, received a distress call from one of the lifeboats
just as it arrived in Dubah from Safaga, Ismail said. The Saint Catherine
notified the company headquarters, which told the Egyptian authorities.
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.
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