Egyptian grief turns to anger

7 Feb 2006, 12:00 am
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An Egyptian man tries to identify a dead relative outside the Hurghada hospital. (pic:AAP)

An Egyptian man tries to identify a dead relative outside the Hurghada hospital. (pic:AAP)

Distraught relatives of people still missing after a ferry accident four days ago in the Red Sea have stormed the offices of an Egyptian shipping company, amid questions over the ferry's safety standards and rescue operation.

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Distraught relatives of people still missing after a ferry accident four days ago in the Red Sea have stormed the offices of an Egyptian shipping company, amid questions over the ferry's safety standards and rescue operation.

The owners of the doomed Al-Salam Boccaccio said 426 people have been pulled from the sea, leaving close to 1,000 dead or missing after the ferry sank while crossing from Saudi Arabia to Egypt on Friday, in one of the worst maritime disasters in living memory.

In Safaga, the doomed ship's destination in southeastern Egypt, an angry mob ransacked Al-Salam offices and clashed with police, infuriated by the lack of information over the fate of their loved ones.

Survivors and relatives have blamed Al-Salam for using a ship that did not comply with safety standards and accused the crew of ignoring a fire that broke out on board when there was still time to turn back to Saudi Arabia.

Questions are also being asked in the Egyptian press and parliament about why the search and rescue operations started only seven hours after the ship sank.

Several survivors have accused the ship's captain Omar Sayed of refusing to acknowledge the risks posed by the fire and charged that the two hours during the blaze raged would have given the ship enough time to return to shore.

Hopes fade

After some survivors were found on Sunday night hopes are fading of finding any more people alive four days after the accident.

Egyptian government spokesman Magdi Radi told reporters on Monday that the number of survivors so far stood at 388 � made up of 342 Egyptians, 44 Saudis, a Syrian and a Sudanese.

It was not clear if that included 37 people found on Sunday night.

"Another 37 were found last night," said Khaled Helmi, head of operations at the Al-Salam Maritime Transport Company.

"We should not lose all hope, the waters are not so cold."

Egyptian press reports alleged that one of the company's other ships was informed that the Al-Salam had encountered difficulties but did not respond.

But the ship's owners defended the record of the vessel and its crew, saying they met all international standards.

Identifying bodies

Official sources said 190 bodies have been recovered so far.

News agency AFP reporter that in the resort of Hurghada, further north, rows had broken out at the hospital between families claiming the same bodies, often bloated beyond recognition.

"It's normal there would be disputes about the identity because after some time in the sea, it's like the face has come off," a hospital official said.

He said the unidentified and disputed bodies were being sent to the central morgue in Cairo for DNA testing.

Police at barricades outside Hurghada hospital held up photographs of the dead as medics read out the names of identified bodies that families can take away for burial.

The ferry, which was driven out of its old European trading route when safety standards were upgraded a few years ago, was carrying 1,415 people between the Saudi port of Duba and Safaga when it sank.

The passengers were mainly Egyptians returning from pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia or jobs in Gulf countries.

Many were bringing months, if not years, worth of savings back to their families.

According to medical sources, among the survivors was six-year-old Mohammed Ahmed Hassan, whose entire family is believed to have perished in the disaster.

The Italian classification society that inspected the ship, Registro
Italiano Navale (RINA), said its seaworthiness had been checked twice last year.

RINA is facing prosecution in France for allegedly failing to carry out proper checks on the Maltese-flagged tanker Erika, which broke up off the coast of France six years ago.

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