President sends condolences after ferry tragedy

President Mary McAleese sent a message of condolence to Egypt today after the tragic sinking of a passenger ferry carrying around 1,300 people.

Coast Guard vessels said they rescued 100 survivors but had pulled dozens of bodies from the water.

The ferry, which was carrying mostly Egyptian workers returning from Saudi Arabia, sank in the Red Sea overnight.

The President’s spokeswoman said: “President McAleese has conveyed her sympathies to President (Hosni) Mubarak and the people of Egypt on the tragic loss of life suffered in last night’s ferry disaster on the Red Sea.”

The 35-year-old passenger ferry, Al Salam Boccaccio 98, went down 40 miles off the Egyptian port of Hurghada between midnight and 2am as most of the passengers were sleeping.

The vessel was travelling from the Saudi port of Duba which is a common point through which thousands of Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia travel home.

By the afternoon, four Egyptian rescue ships had reached the scene, about 10 hours after the ship was likely to have went down.

An official at the Maritime Authority control room in Suez said the Salam 98’s passengers included about 1,200 Egyptians, as well as 99 Saudis, three Syrians, two Sudanese, and a Canadian.