Ferry Sinks
- Thread starter Nancy
- Start date
SherryCherish
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2005
- Messages
- 4,532
- Reaction score
- 0
Oh no! not other tragic!
The*Empress
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2005
- Messages
- 6,908
- Reaction score
- 3
I think terrorists did this.
A spokesman for President Hosni Mubarak said the ferry did not have enough lifeboats, and questions were raised about the safety of the 35-year-old, refitted ship that was weighed down with 220 cars as well as the passengers.
The percentage of this type of ferry involved in this type of disaster is huge.”
Weather may also have been a factor. There were high winds and a sandstorm overnight on Saudi Arabia’s west coast.
Officials said more than 185 bodies were recovered while hundreds remained missing in the dark, chilly sea nearly 24 hours after the ship went down.
A Transport Ministry spokesman said 324 people, including a 3-year-old child, were rescued.
Rescue efforts also appeared confused. Egyptian officials initially turned down a British offer to divert a warship to the scene and a U.S. offer to send a P3-Orion maritime naval patrol aircraft to the area. The British craft, HMS Bulwark, headed from the southern Red Sea where it was operating, then turned around when the offer was rejected.
But then Egypt reversed itself and asked for both the Orion and the Bulwark to be sent — then finally decided to call off the Bulwark, deciding it was too far away to help, said Lt. Cdr. Charlie Brown of the U.S. 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain. In the end, the Orion — which has the capability to search underwater from the air — was sent, but the Bulwark was not, he said.
Four Egyptian rescue ships reached the scene Friday afternoon, about 10 hours after the 35-year-old ferry likely went down some 57 miles off the Egyptian port
Saudi ships were patrolling waters off their shore to hunt for survivors, but found none, a senior Saudi security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Egyptian regulations require life jackets on the boat, but implementation of safety procedures is often lax.
The vessel went down between midnight and 2 a.m., when authorities lost contact with it. No distress signal was received.
The ferry was carrying 1,200 Egyptian and 112 other passengers as well as 96 crew members, the head of Al-Salaam Maritime Transport Company Mamdouh Ismail told The Associated Press. The passengers included 99 Saudis, three Syrians, two Sudanese, and a Canadian, officials said. It was not clear where the other passengers were from.
The agent for the ship in Saudi Arabia, Farid al-Douadi, said the vessel had the capacity for 2,500 passengers. But the owner’s Web site, http://www.elsalammaritime.com/, said 387-foot-long boat had a capacity for 1,487 passengers and crew.
Hundreds of angry relatives of the passengers crowded for hours outside Egypt’s port of Safaga, where the ferry had been heading. They shouted at police barring the iron gates and complained they had no information on their loved ones.
“This is a dirty government, may God burn their hearts as they burned mine,” one woman wailed, slapping her face in grief. “I want my brother. I have no one else in this life.”
Mubarak’s spokesman said an investigation was under way.
I did the math and it does not add up at all. My prayers are with these innocent people. In some parts of the world. The government absoutely can not be trusted for anything, which is really sad. 
The percentage of this type of ferry involved in this type of disaster is huge.”
Weather may also have been a factor. There were high winds and a sandstorm overnight on Saudi Arabia’s west coast.
Officials said more than 185 bodies were recovered while hundreds remained missing in the dark, chilly sea nearly 24 hours after the ship went down.
A Transport Ministry spokesman said 324 people, including a 3-year-old child, were rescued.
Rescue efforts also appeared confused. Egyptian officials initially turned down a British offer to divert a warship to the scene and a U.S. offer to send a P3-Orion maritime naval patrol aircraft to the area. The British craft, HMS Bulwark, headed from the southern Red Sea where it was operating, then turned around when the offer was rejected.
But then Egypt reversed itself and asked for both the Orion and the Bulwark to be sent — then finally decided to call off the Bulwark, deciding it was too far away to help, said Lt. Cdr. Charlie Brown of the U.S. 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain. In the end, the Orion — which has the capability to search underwater from the air — was sent, but the Bulwark was not, he said.
Four Egyptian rescue ships reached the scene Friday afternoon, about 10 hours after the 35-year-old ferry likely went down some 57 miles off the Egyptian port
Saudi ships were patrolling waters off their shore to hunt for survivors, but found none, a senior Saudi security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Egyptian regulations require life jackets on the boat, but implementation of safety procedures is often lax.
The vessel went down between midnight and 2 a.m., when authorities lost contact with it. No distress signal was received.
The ferry was carrying 1,200 Egyptian and 112 other passengers as well as 96 crew members, the head of Al-Salaam Maritime Transport Company Mamdouh Ismail told The Associated Press. The passengers included 99 Saudis, three Syrians, two Sudanese, and a Canadian, officials said. It was not clear where the other passengers were from.
The agent for the ship in Saudi Arabia, Farid al-Douadi, said the vessel had the capacity for 2,500 passengers. But the owner’s Web site, http://www.elsalammaritime.com/, said 387-foot-long boat had a capacity for 1,487 passengers and crew.
Hundreds of angry relatives of the passengers crowded for hours outside Egypt’s port of Safaga, where the ferry had been heading. They shouted at police barring the iron gates and complained they had no information on their loved ones.
“This is a dirty government, may God burn their hearts as they burned mine,” one woman wailed, slapping her face in grief. “I want my brother. I have no one else in this life.”
Mubarak’s spokesman said an investigation was under way.
I did the math and it does not add up at all. My prayers are with these innocent people. In some parts of the world. The government absoutely can not be trusted for anything, which is really sad. 
GalaxyAngel
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2003
- Messages
- 13,542
- Reaction score
- 0
Simlair alike story coming from Tititanic...
Wha.. ironic story?
Wha.. ironic story?
This is just so sad, so many tragedies going on. I am so confused as to why the captain jumped off the ship and onto a lifeboat along with his crew. Told the passengers to take off their lifejackets, but, then put his on, and jumped. One has to wonder if he knew something was going to happen on that ship. My sympathies go out to all the family members who had a loved one on that boat.