Safaga, Egypt – Accounts of rescue delays and denial that have enraged those who lost friends and relatives in the sinking Friday of an Egyptian ferry prompted a crowd to storm the offices of the ferry’s owner.
Riot police fired tear gas to restore order after hundreds attacked the office of Al-Salaam Maritime on Monday. Family members also tried to storm a hospital after it displayed photographs of bodies retrieved from sea, apparently in hopes of identifying the dead.
The ferry Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98 set out from Dubah, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday night, carrying more than 1,400 passengers and crew. Fierce winds whipped up a sandstorm as the vessel left port for the 130-mile journey across the Red Sea to Safaga.
Less than two hours into the voyage – with the ship about 40 miles off the Saudi coast – a fire broke out in the vehicle parking bay. The captain, apparently thinking the blaze had been extinguished, pressed on for Egypt, but the fire rekindled and raged out of control.
“The captain had four hours to ask for help or to return to Saudi Arabia, but he did not. His pride made him believe that he could control the situation,” said Abdul Hakim from his hospital bed, where he was recovering from hours spent in the chilly sea. “He was acting as if we were not human beings,” said Hakim, who had been working as a painter in Kuwait.
Official reports on the number of survivors vary between 388 and 401 of the 1,400-plus people who started the journey. Authorities report recovering 244 bodies of the roughly 1,000 people believed to have drowned.
“None of the crew members lowered lifeboats or even told us how to use them,” said Hakim, who battled the waves for three hours before climbing into an inflatable lifeboat. Around him, women and children were calling out. “I couldn’t help them,” he said.
Some survivors claimed the captain and some crew members were among the first to abandon ship. Authorities said the captain was among the missing and cautioned that survivor accounts could be exaggerated.
Transportation Ministry spokesman Mohammed Amin said Monday that investigators have spoken with surviving crew members and passengers to learn what happened.
