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Cruise liner with 1,300 on board sinks in Red Sea
Last updated: 03-02-06, 14:51
About 100 survivors have been found in lifeboats after a ferry carrying 1,300 passengers sank in the Red Sea overnight on a trip from Saudi Arabia to Egypt.
Search teams have also picked up dozens of dead bodies from the water, official sources said, but bad weather is hampering the rescue operation.
Survivors were brought ashore at the Egyptian port of Safaga, where the ferry had been scheduled to arrive at 2 am (midnight Irish time).
A search-and-rescue plane spotted at least one lifeboat near where the Salam 98 last had contact with shore at about 10 p.m. (8pm Irish time) yesterday evening.
An official at the Maritime Authority control room in Suez confirmed that 20 bodies had been pulled out of the water so far. He said about 100 survivors were rescued from five lifeboats. A spokesman for the Egyptian Embassy in London, Ayman al-Kaffas, said "dozens of bodies" had been pulled out of the water and several life boats had been spotted.
Some earlier reports called the ferry the Salam 89, but a company official said that was a different vessel also owned by the El Salam Maritime Transport Company.
"Dozens of bodies were picked up from the sea . . . they were from the ferry," a police source at the port of Safaga said. Egyptian aircraft also saw bodies floating in the water, other security sources said.
Most of the passengers were Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia, but at this time of year many Egyptians are still on their way home from the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
The Egyptian state news agency Mena quoted official sources in Safaga as saying the ferry had sunk 92 kilometres from the Egyptian port of Hurghada, north of Safaga. Some passengers survived, it added.
The ferry was on a trip between the Saudi port of Duba and Safaga, both at the northern end of the Red Sea. It had originally come from Jeddah, the main port for the pilgrimage.
Coastal stations did not receive any SOS message from the crew. The weather had been very poor overnight on the Saudi side of the Red Sea, with heavy winds and rain, but visibility should have been good out at sea, officials said.
Transport Minister Mohamed Lutfi Mansour told Mena the armed forces had deployed four rescue vessels at the scene.
A sister ship, the Salam 95, sank in the Red Sea in October after a collision with a Cypriot commercial vessel. In that case almost all of the passengers were rescued.
Last updated: 03-02-06, 14:51
About 100 survivors have been found in lifeboats after a ferry carrying 1,300 passengers sank in the Red Sea overnight on a trip from Saudi Arabia to Egypt.
Search teams have also picked up dozens of dead bodies from the water, official sources said, but bad weather is hampering the rescue operation.
Survivors were brought ashore at the Egyptian port of Safaga, where the ferry had been scheduled to arrive at 2 am (midnight Irish time).
A search-and-rescue plane spotted at least one lifeboat near where the Salam 98 last had contact with shore at about 10 p.m. (8pm Irish time) yesterday evening.
An official at the Maritime Authority control room in Suez confirmed that 20 bodies had been pulled out of the water so far. He said about 100 survivors were rescued from five lifeboats. A spokesman for the Egyptian Embassy in London, Ayman al-Kaffas, said "dozens of bodies" had been pulled out of the water and several life boats had been spotted.
Some earlier reports called the ferry the Salam 89, but a company official said that was a different vessel also owned by the El Salam Maritime Transport Company.
"Dozens of bodies were picked up from the sea . . . they were from the ferry," a police source at the port of Safaga said. Egyptian aircraft also saw bodies floating in the water, other security sources said.
Most of the passengers were Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia, but at this time of year many Egyptians are still on their way home from the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
The Egyptian state news agency Mena quoted official sources in Safaga as saying the ferry had sunk 92 kilometres from the Egyptian port of Hurghada, north of Safaga. Some passengers survived, it added.
The ferry was on a trip between the Saudi port of Duba and Safaga, both at the northern end of the Red Sea. It had originally come from Jeddah, the main port for the pilgrimage.
Coastal stations did not receive any SOS message from the crew. The weather had been very poor overnight on the Saudi side of the Red Sea, with heavy winds and rain, but visibility should have been good out at sea, officials said.
Transport Minister Mohamed Lutfi Mansour told Mena the armed forces had deployed four rescue vessels at the scene.
A sister ship, the Salam 95, sank in the Red Sea in October after a collision with a Cypriot commercial vessel. In that case almost all of the passengers were rescued.
