Rioters attack Red Sea disaster ferry firm offices

Hundreds of relatives of passengers on a ferry that sank in the Red Sea attacked the offices of the ship’s owners in Safaga, Egypt, day, throwing furniture into the street and burning the company’s sign. Riot police fired tear gas to restore order.

Family members also tried to storm a hospital in another port town after it displayed photographs of corpses retrieved from the sea. They wanted to get into the hospital morgue to see if their loved ones were there.

Since the Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98 sank with the loss of about 1,000 lives early on Friday, relatives have complained and occasionally rioted over the lack of information on casualties from the government and the ship’s owners. They have also accused the authorities of mishandling rescue efforts.

The governor of Red Sea province, Bakr al-Rashidi, today said that only 388 of the more than 1,400 people on board were known to have survived. This was 13 people fewer than the survivor toll given by Egyptian police yesterday. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.

Al-Rashidi told The Associated Press that the number of corpses retrieved from the sea had risen to 244. The previous figure was 195.

Most of the passengers were low-income Egyptians returning from working in Saudi Arabia or Gulf countries.

The ferry was in the early stages of its 130-mile voyage from Saudi Arabia to Egypt when a fire broke out in the parking area. Survivors say the captain decided to push on toward the Egyptian port of Safaga, but the fire spread, an explosion was heard, and in high winds the ship capsized.

In Safaga today, riot police who had been guarding the port gates rushed the ferry company’s offices and dispersed the crowd with tear gas. One civilian was seen holding his head in pain. It was not immediately known how he was injured. Some rioters set fire to tyres on roads leading to the port, but these were extinguished by firefighters.

In the port town of Hurghada, about 40 miles to the north, a crowd outside the local hospital became angry when a line of police officers displayed photographs of those who had drowned on the ferry.

The crowd broke through the security barriers erected in front of the hospital, but did not manage to get through the gates and enter the building. Police and hospital officials agreed to allow small groups of people to enter the hospital morgue to identify their relatives.

Independent Egyptian newspapers have accused President Hosni Mubarak’s government of protecting the ship’s owner, who they say is close to a top official in government.

Initial offers of help in the rescue effort from the United States and Britain were rejected, and four Egyptian ships reached the scene only by Friday afternoon, about 10 hours after the ferry was believed to have capsized.

Survivors have spoken of crew errors before the sinking.

Khaled Hassan, a 27-year-old survivor from the village of al-Dhobiyah near Luxor who was travelling home after working in Kuwait, said he saw the ship’s captain jump into a lifeboat as passengers were left behind. His story could not be verified.

Abdul Muhsin Rayan, a 35-year-old from Sohag who had been working in Saudi Arabia, said as smoke engulfed the ship, crew members told the passengers not to put on life jackets that were nearby, because that would panic women and children.

“From the captain on down, no one gave us any instructions on what to do,” he said from a hospital bed.

Legislator Mustafa al-Bakri, one of 20 politicians who went to Safaga, has said parliament will investigate why maritime officials received no distress call from the ship.

Mubarak’s office has said the ferry did not have enough lifeboats, but 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.

El Salam Maritime issued a statement declaring the ferry complied “with all the international safety regulations and treaties and (was) certified to make international voyages.”