Flood on car deck sank Egyptian ferry: officer (AP) Updated: 2006-02-05 20:45
OWNERS DEFEND SAFETY RECORD
The owners of the ferry, the Cairo-based el Salam
Maritime Transport Company, said in a statement the ferry complied with all
international safety regulations and was certified to work in European waters.
An injured survivor
of the ship sinking in the Red Sea is carried off by paramedics from the
Elanora cargo ship which had ferried the survivors to the port of Hurghada
in Egypt Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006. [AP] |
It said the ferry had gone to Genoa in Italy for the world summit in 2001 and
to France and Greece in 2002.
"As for the accident complications, it is quite early to determine the actual
causes as all the authorities and company officers now are mainly concerned with
the rescue operations as first priority," the statement added.
The big questions are why the captain and crew did not send out a distress
signal to shore stations and why they do not appear to have evacuated the ship
in good time. Survivors say the fire burned for several hours before the ferry
sank.
Hussein el-Harmil, head of Egypt's maritime safety board, said there had been
ample time to organize an evacuation.
"There could have been a fire and loss of communications or poor management
by those dealing with the fire and by the captain, leading to hurried actions
which could have led to the sinking of this ferry," he told Egyptian television.
Major-General Mahfouz Taha, head of the Red Sea Ports Authority, told the
television that the Panamanian flag did not exempt the ferry company from safety
regulations.
He confirmed that the first the authorities heard of a possible problem
aboard the Al Salam 98 was when the ferry did not turn up in Safaga on time on
Friday morning.
At Safaga port, hundreds of relatives of the missing awaited news, some for a
third day. Authorities deployed more riot police after clashes on Saturday
between police and people angry at receiving so little information.
On Sunday morning, some of the relatives chanted at the police: "Down with
the interior ministry, down with Mubarak."
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visited some of the injured on Saturday and
made a short televised speech of condolences.
Ashraf Mohamed, one of those waiting for relatives, said: "There are
officials on television but are there any here? No."
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