Post by Shadow on Feb 3, 2006 13:39:47 GMT -5
Reuters
By Jonathan Wright
CAIRO (Reuters) - A ferry carrying 1,272 passengers sank in the Red Sea overnight on a trip from Saudi Arabia to Egypt, and search and rescue teams retrieved dozens of dead bodies from the water, official sources said on Friday.
Egyptian state television quoted naval sources as saying rescue teams had also picked up 100 survivors but other official sources gave numbers between 14 and 20 for those found alive.
At least 12 survivors were brought ashore at the Egyptian port of Safaga, where the 35-year-old ferry was meant to arrive at 2 a.m. (7 p.m. EST) on Friday morning, Egyptian security sources said.
A search and rescue plane spotted a lifeboat near where the 11,800 gross ton Al Salam 98 last had contact with shore at about 10 p.m. (3 p.m. EST) on Thursday, one official said.
"Dozens of bodies were picked up from the sea ... they were from the ferry," a police source at Safaga said.
An official at el-Salam Maritime Transport Company, owner of the ferry, said it might take hours to find out what had happened to the ship, which was built in Italy in 1970 and moved to the Egyptian company in 1998.
None of the officials said there was any indication that the sinking was the result of an attack on the ferry.
Most of the passengers were Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia, officials said, but at this time of year many Egyptians are still on their way home from the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
By Jonathan Wright
CAIRO (Reuters) - A ferry carrying 1,272 passengers sank in the Red Sea overnight on a trip from Saudi Arabia to Egypt, and search and rescue teams retrieved dozens of dead bodies from the water, official sources said on Friday.
Egyptian state television quoted naval sources as saying rescue teams had also picked up 100 survivors but other official sources gave numbers between 14 and 20 for those found alive.
At least 12 survivors were brought ashore at the Egyptian port of Safaga, where the 35-year-old ferry was meant to arrive at 2 a.m. (7 p.m. EST) on Friday morning, Egyptian security sources said.
A search and rescue plane spotted a lifeboat near where the 11,800 gross ton Al Salam 98 last had contact with shore at about 10 p.m. (3 p.m. EST) on Thursday, one official said.
"Dozens of bodies were picked up from the sea ... they were from the ferry," a police source at Safaga said.
An official at el-Salam Maritime Transport Company, owner of the ferry, said it might take hours to find out what had happened to the ship, which was built in Italy in 1970 and moved to the Egyptian company in 1998.
None of the officials said there was any indication that the sinking was the result of an attack on the ferry.
Most of the passengers were Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia, officials said, but at this time of year many Egyptians are still on their way home from the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.