All aboard Egyptian ferry in Red Sea rescued

CAIRO/AMMAN - All the passengers aboard an Egyptian ferry which caught fire on Thursday morning near the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea have been rescued, Egyptian Transport Minister Ali Zain el-Abdin said.

The ferry, carrying 1,230 passengers who are mostly Egyptian expatriate workers returning home for Muslim Eid al-Adha festival, caught fire about 15 nautical miles from the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba and was headed for the Egyptian port of Nuweiba, according to the report.

Director General of the Arab Bridge Maritime Company, the owner of the vessel, Hussein So'ub told Jordan's Petra News Agency by phone that the fire broke out in the luggage storage and no injuries were reported.

Passengers were evacuated to another ship of the same company, So'ub said.

The Egyptian navy has sent planes and vessels to rescue the passengers on board, the Egyptian Nile TV reported.