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Series of tragic errors doomed Egypt ferry
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-05 06:24
In a televised address, the president said, "We pray that God almighty may
count (the victims) among his martyrs."
A group of nearly 140 survivors came ashore at Hurghada shortly before dawn
Saturday. Wrapped in blankets, they walked down a rescue ship's ramp, some of
them barefoot and shivering, and boarded buses for a hospital.
Wahab, a martial arts instructor, said he spent 20 hours in the sea,
sometimes holding on to a barrel from the ship and later taking a lifejacket
from a dead body.
Ahmed Elew, an Egyptian in his 20s, said he went to the ship's crew to report
the fire and they ordered him to help put it out. At one point there was an
explosion, he said.
When the ship began sinking, Elew said he jumped into the water and swam for
several hours. He said he saw one overloaded lifeboat capsize but managed to
stay afloat long enough to find another.
"Around me people were dying and sinking," he said. "Who is responsible for
this? Somebody did not do their job right. These people must be held
accountable."
Mubarak spokesman Suleiman Awad said the ferry did not have enough lifeboats
and an investigation was under way into the ship's seaworthiness. But later,
Maj. Gen. Sherin Hasan, chairman of the maritime section of the Transportation
Ministry, said there were more than enough lifeboats for the number of
passengers on the ferry.
Hasan said the captain of the vessel, whom he did not name, was missing.
Mahfouz Taha, head of Egyptian Red Sea Ports authority in Safaga, reported
that 376 people were saved. He confirmed the fire started in the parking bay of
the vessel.
The ship left Dubah at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on the 120-mile trip to Safaga,
where it was scheduled to arrive at 3 a.m. It disappeared from radar screens
between midnight and 2 a.m., and no distress signal was received.
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