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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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March
2006
Volume
10 - Number 2 |
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On February 3, 2006, the Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98 sank in the Red Sea on its way from Saudi Arabia to the Egyptian port of Safaga. There were 1, 414 people aboard and the ship’s cargo included about 220 vehicles. The ferry was 35 years old. The majority of passengers are thought to be Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia. Passengers also included pilgrims returning from the Hajj in Mecca. A crew member stated that a fire aboard the ferry occurred shortly after the ferry left port in Saudi Arabia; however, the captain decided to continue the 120 mile voyage to Egypt. Radar contact with the ship was lost three hours after if left the port. There were reports that the fire may have started in a storage luggage area, and then spread to the ship’s mechanical room. As it burned, many passengers moved to one side of the ship. An explosion was heard at one point and high winds helped topple the already unbalanced ferry. Some also report that the ferry sank because of firefighting operations as water flooded the deck and it pooled on one side. The air-sea rescue control room in Scotland originally detected an automatic distress signal relayed by satellite from the ship’s position. The alert was then passed on via France to the Egyptian authorities. Initial offers of help in the rescue effort from the US, Britain and Israel were rejected and four Egyptian ships reached the scene 10 hours after the ferry was believed to have capsized. However, the Egyptians later accepted the US offer of a maritime naval patrol aircraft. On February 6, 2006, angry families rioted around the offices of the ship’s owner, El Salam Maritime, demanding answers as to whether their loved ones were among the dead, being the company had not yet released the names and the mishandling of the rescue and aftermath. Hundreds of people took part in the attacks, throwing everything in the streets into the offices and set fire to a large picture of one of the company’s ferries. Riot police dispersed the crowd with tear gas. It was reported that the ferry did not have enough lifeboats, but the chairman of the maritime section of the Transportation Ministry said there had been enough for the number of passengers on board. The ship’s owner was responsible for past tragedies, including one that sank last year. However, El Salam Maritime issued a statement that it complied “with all international safety regulations and treaties and (was) certified to make international voyages.” About 1,000 people died. 388 people were rescued and as of February 16, 2006, 409 bodies had been recovered. The remaining are still missing. Families of the victims have criticized the government for not responding quickly enough to the event. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told reporters the government would pay emergency compensation to survivors and relatives of the dead. Survivors are to receive 15,000 Egyptian pounds ($2,600) and families of the dead are to get twice that amount. The ferry was found on February 16, 2006 on the seabed in 800 metes of water, 56 miles from Safaga. A team was being formed of international experts to start work to recover the black box using a robot and will take pictures to begin the research into how the ferry sank. www.cnn.com www.msnbc.com en.wikipedia.org www.bbc.co.uk |