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.