Post by ferryfast admin on Feb 6, 2006 10:06:45 GMT -5
Crowds attack ferry offices
Reuters
07feb06
HUNDREDS of relatives of passengers drowned on a Red Sea ferry attacked the offices of the owners yesterday, throwing its furniture into the street and burning the company's signboard.
Riot police fired tear gas to restore order.
Rescuers have pulled more survivors from the ferry that caught fire and sank, but hundreds were still missing.
Survivors included Mohammed Hassan, 6, who was recovering in hospital in the port of Hurghada after spending more than 36 hours in the water.
He lost his mother, father and other relatives.
"I thank God, I thank God a lot that there is something left of my brother," his uncle Haroun said.
Authorities deployed more riot police at Safaga, where the ferry would have docked. Hundreds of relatives were awaiting news, some for the third day.
Some chanted: "Down with the Interior Ministry, down with (President Hosni) Mubarak."
Sixty-one survivors arrived in Hurghada and six others in Duba, Saudi Arabia from where the boat departed with more than 1000 aboard.
The total number of survivors was more than 460, leaving about 700 unaccounted for. Searchers had found 195 bodies.
Passengers have alleged negligence, saying the crew prevented passengers from wearing lifejackets, did not get them into lifeboats, and abandoned ship before making sure all passengers had left.
Egyptian media have accused the operators of making the ferry unsafe by adding extra decks and using a Panamanian flag to avoid safety requirements.
The owners, the Cairo-based el Salam Maritime Transport Company, said the ferry complied with international safety regulations and was certified to work in European waters.
"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," it said.
The owner of the company, Mamdouh Ismail, told Egyptian TV his company would give the family of everyone who died $35,000, which he said was the maximum provided for in Egyptian law.
Unanswered questions were: why did the captain and crew not send a distress signal, and why did they not evacuate the ship in good time?
Maj-Gen Mahfouz Taha, Red Sea Ports Authority chief, said the Panamanian flag did not exempt the ferry company from safety regulations.
Reuters
07feb06
HUNDREDS of relatives of passengers drowned on a Red Sea ferry attacked the offices of the owners yesterday, throwing its furniture into the street and burning the company's signboard.
Riot police fired tear gas to restore order.
Rescuers have pulled more survivors from the ferry that caught fire and sank, but hundreds were still missing.
Survivors included Mohammed Hassan, 6, who was recovering in hospital in the port of Hurghada after spending more than 36 hours in the water.
He lost his mother, father and other relatives.
"I thank God, I thank God a lot that there is something left of my brother," his uncle Haroun said.
Authorities deployed more riot police at Safaga, where the ferry would have docked. Hundreds of relatives were awaiting news, some for the third day.
Some chanted: "Down with the Interior Ministry, down with (President Hosni) Mubarak."
Sixty-one survivors arrived in Hurghada and six others in Duba, Saudi Arabia from where the boat departed with more than 1000 aboard.
The total number of survivors was more than 460, leaving about 700 unaccounted for. Searchers had found 195 bodies.
Passengers have alleged negligence, saying the crew prevented passengers from wearing lifejackets, did not get them into lifeboats, and abandoned ship before making sure all passengers had left.
Egyptian media have accused the operators of making the ferry unsafe by adding extra decks and using a Panamanian flag to avoid safety requirements.
The owners, the Cairo-based el Salam Maritime Transport Company, said the ferry complied with international safety regulations and was certified to work in European waters.
"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," it said.
The owner of the company, Mamdouh Ismail, told Egyptian TV his company would give the family of everyone who died $35,000, which he said was the maximum provided for in Egyptian law.
Unanswered questions were: why did the captain and crew not send a distress signal, and why did they not evacuate the ship in good time?
Maj-Gen Mahfouz Taha, Red Sea Ports Authority chief, said the Panamanian flag did not exempt the ferry company from safety regulations.