Flood on car deck sank Egyptian ferry: officer (AP) Updated: 2006-02-05 20:45
An officer from the Egyptian ferry which sank in the Red Sea said on Sunday
the car deck had flooded as crew battled a fire.
Egyptian survivors of a ferry accident arrive
at the Red Sea port of Hurghada February 4, 2006 after they were rescued.
Hopes of finding nearly 900 missing people after the sinking of an
Egyptian ferry faded on Saturday as the search for them entered a second
day. [Reuters] | About 800 people are still
missing from the ferry Al Salam 98, which caught fire on Thursday on a trip from
Duba in Saudi Arabia to Safaga on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. Rescuers
have brought ashore some 400 survivors and 195 dead bodies.
Another seven people were rescued on Saturday evening, the state news agency
MENA said. Search operations continued on Sunday but the chances of finding more
survivors were diminishing, officials said.
Rani Kamal, third officer on the ship, told the Arabic news channel Al
Arabiya from a Saudi hospital the car deck had flooded during the firefighting
operation, making the ship list. Government officials said earlier the blaze
began in a vehicle.
"The ferry sank due to firefighting operations. Water flooded the garage (car
deck), which is where the fire started, and it pooled on one side," he said.
"Then the water increased and increased until the ship listed sharply. It
listed five, then 10 degrees and then 15 and then 25 degrees and that was the
beginning of the end," added Kamal, who was rescued from a dinghy by Saudi
coastguards.
He did not explain further. Passengers have also reported both a fire below
decks and serious listing.
The captain of the ship, Sayed Omar, is unaccounted for. The second officer,
who has been rescued, has spoken to the authorities but not to the media.
Passengers accused the captain and crew of negligence, saying Omar abandoned
the ship before making sure all the passengers had left the vessel. They said
crew prevented them from wearing lifejackets and did not get them into
lifeboats.
Egyptian media and commentators have accused the operators of making the
ferry unsafe by adding extra decks after buying it from Italy and using a
Panamanian flag to avoid safety requirements.
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