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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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