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Egyptian Ship Sinks At Sea An Egyptian passenger ferry carrying more than 1,400 people has sunk in the Red Sea - with only 30 survivors rescued. A massive air and sea rescue is underway and dozens of bodies have been pulled from the sea where the ship disappeared. Four Egyptian frigates are at the scene and boats have taken the survivors to the Egyptian port of Safaga. Admiral Sir Alan West, Britain's first sea lord, has diverted a British warship, HMS Bulwark, to help in the rescue. It will arrive in a day-and-a-half. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "Our hearts go out to all those who we think have suffered so badly in this tragedy." The rescue operation is being hampered by bad weather and there are reports of an electrical storm in the Red Sea overnight. The ship, Salam 98, disappeared shortly after sailing from the Saudi Arabian port of Duba last night. Its last position on the radar screens was 62 miles from Duba and it was expected to arrive at Safaga at 3am today. El-Salam Maritime Transport official Adel Shukri said they had not received an SOS message. However, RAF Kinloss in the UK did pick up a distress signal from the ship last night. An MoD spokesman said: "We did pick up a beacon from the ship at 11.58pm. That beacon alert was passed on to the French who passed it on to the Egyptians." Richard Clayton, editor of Fairplay Shipping Magazine, said the ship "disappeared very quickly". According to Farid al-Douadi, the agent for the ship in Saudi Arabia, there were about 220 vehicles on board. Most of the passengers were Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia but some were returning from the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Other passengers included Saudis and Sudanese. David Osler, industrial editor at Lloyd's List, described the ship as a roll on, roll off passenger ferry dating back to the 1970s. He said: "The problem is with this type of ferry is they only need a relatively small amount of water to get on board to start an uncontrollable rocking effect that capsizes the ship." The ship is owned by Egyptian company El Salaam Maritime Transport, which is run by Mamdouh Ismail. He said the ship was more than 25 years old and registered in Panama. A sister ship, the Al Salam 95, sank in the Red Sea in October after a collision with a Cypriot commercial vessel. |
