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Ferry passenger families lash out at Egypt
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-06 08:55
Family members of passengers on a ferry that sank in the Red Sea protested on
Sunday as they waited in vain for news of their loved ones, accusing Egypt's
government of mishandling the rescue after the ship went down with more than
1,400 people on board.
Only a handful more passengers were pulled from the sea, dashing hopes for
some 800 people missing and feared dead.
Egyptian officials said the captain was missing, and some survivors alleged
he had jumped into one of the first lifeboats out rather than stay with the
crippled ferry. A lawmaker said ships operated by the same company had been
involved in past tragedies, including one that sank last year.
Late Sunday, police put the number of those rescued at 401 — up from 376
reported on Saturday and an indication that few more survivors would be found.
It was unclear when the additional 25 people had been rescued.
A total of 195 bodies have been recovered.
A relative shouts at police outside the port
in Safaga in Egypt Sunday, Feb. 5, 2006 as friends and relatives continue
to wait for news both of the victims and survivors of the ferry sinking on
Friday in which 401 of almost 1300 passengers have so far been confirmed
to have survived.[AP] | Among the survivors was 5-year-old Mohammed Ahmed Hassan, kept afloat for
more than 20 hours by a life ring. Doctors said the boy was in good condition
but apparently had lost his parents, sister and brother.
The Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98 was carrying more than 1,400 passengers and crew
and 220 cars when it quickly sank early Friday about 55 miles from the Egyptian
Red Sea port of Hurghada. Most of the passengers were Egyptian workers returning
from Saudi Arabia.
Outside the Red Sea port in Safaga, where survivors were being taken, about
100 family members shouted at police and criticized Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak for not providing more information. On Saturday, at similar
demonstrations in the port 280 miles southeast of Cairo, family members threw
stones at police.
"Where is the president, where are our sons? Where are the bodies? We want to
know the fate of the children," yelled the protesters, who had been waiting in
the area for two days.
"If you don't have the bodies, at least give us (death) certificates and let
us go. You have been torturing us for days," shouted Heshmat Mohammed Hassan,
whose brother is still missing.
The families need death certificates to claim a payment of $5,200 that the
president has said should go to the family of each victim. The president said
survivors would each get $2,600.
Mubarak flew to Hurghada, about 40 miles north of Safaga, on Saturday and
visited survivors in two hospitals. Television pictures of the visit, which
normally would have carried sound of Mubarak's conversations, were silent.
"We pray that God almighty may count (the victims) among his martyrs,"
Mubarak said during his visit, in remarks that were televised.
Fire broke out in the vessel's parking bay as it was about 20 miles from the
Saudi shore where it had sailed from, survivors said Sunday. The crew decided to
push across the Red Sea, to try to reach Egypt's shores 110 miles away.
As it burned, many passengers moved to one side of the 35-year-old ship. An
explosion was heard, and high winds helped topple the unbalanced vessel.
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