Owners and govt blamed for Red Sea ferry's sinking

An investigation into the sinking of a Red Sea ferry, that went down in February with a loss of more than 1,000 lives, has blamed the ship’s owners, a maritime safety body and the Egyptian government, Egypt’s semi-official news agency reported today.

“The responsibility of the ship’s owner and his sons has been determined in this crime because the ferry was operating with major deficiencies that should have prevented it from sailing,” said the report of the parliamentary investigating committee.

The report said there was “wicked collaboration” between the maritime safety body and the Al-Salaam company that owned the ferry, Al-Salam Boccaccio 98.

This collaboration meant that the ferry was not observing “minimum safety requirements,” the Middle East News Agency reported.

The report criticised the government for failing to launch an adequate rescue operation.

“Many obstacles could have been overcome in the management of the crisis if the response had been at the level that President Hosni Mubarak spoke of when he went to Hurghada port” hours after the sinking, the report said.

The Al-Salam Boccaccio 98 sank in the early hours of February 3 about 40 miles off the Egyptian port of Hurghada.

The 35-year-old ferry was carrying more than 1,400 passengers, mostly Egyptian workers returning from Saudi Arabia, and about 220 vehicles.

Shortly after leaving Saudi Arabia, a fire broke out on board.

The captain continued to sail toward Egypt, but the crew did not manage to extinguish the fire. Eventually the ship capsized.

About 400 people were rescued.

The maritime safety body, the Egyptian Commission of Maritime Safety, authorised the ship’s sailing although it was aware of “huge shortcomings,” including a shortage of life-rafts and fire-fighting equipment, the report said.

The report recommended that the authorities show “no mercy to those who caused the loss of Egyptian lives and corrupted the maritime safety commission … to those who allowed this ship to sail without the necessary maritime safety requirements.”

A copy of the report will be filed with the prosecutor general, the agency said.