Ship with 1,300 passengers go missing in Red Sea
04 February, 2006
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| An Egyptian ship carrying about 1,300 passengers has gone missing in the Red Sea, Egyptian news agency MENA reported Friday. |
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CAIRO, February 04 (Online): An Egyptian ship carrying about 1,300 passengers has gone missing in the Red Sea, Egyptian news agency MENA reported Friday.
The Salam 98 was on its way from the Saudi port of Dhiba to Safaga, a Red Sea port in southern Egypt.
Bakr al-Rashidi, governor of Red Sea province, was quoted by MENA as saying that the ship, also carrying 22 cars, 16 trucks and 5 cargo vehicles, was supposed to arrive in Safaga after midnight Thursday.
Al-Rashidi said the maritime and aerial rescue teams and all other ships in the region have been notified.
Meanwhile, Fourteen bodies and 100 survivors have been pulled from the water, as rescue boats battled poor weather to scour the area before darkness fell.
The cause of the disaster is not known, but there were high winds when the 35-year-old vessel set sail.
The Egyptian transport minister said there had been no concerns about the seaworthiness of the ship. But President Hosni Mubarak has ordered an immediate inquiry into the cause and circumstances of the sinking.
Most of the passengers were Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia, but some were said to be pilgrims returning from Mecca.
The ship vanished after setting sail for Safaga on Thursday evening, but no distress signal was said to have been received by Egyptian officials.
Warships and helicopters have been searching the area, which a spokesman for the gyptian embassy in London described as "vast".
"Dozens of bodies" had been recovered and several life boats had been spotted, Ayman al-Kaffas told the media.
A British warship sent to the area has been recalled, but no reason has been given.
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