Lifeboats, bodies reported near where ship last
seen
Friday, February 3, 2006; Posted: 6:33 a.m. EST (11:33 GMT)
CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- An aging Egyptian passenger ship
carrying more than 1,400 people has disappeared in the Red Sea off
the Saudi coast, officials say.
The ship, the Al Salam Boccaccio 98, left Dubah, western Saudi
Arabia, en route to Egypt's southern port of Safaga, a spokesman
for the El Islam Maritime Transport Co. told CNN.
State-run Nile Television, quoting the Red Sea governor, said the
ship was carrying 1,415 people -- 1,310 of them Egyptians.
"Our understanding now is that there are survivors," said Egyptian
Minister of Transport Mohamed Loutfy Mansour, who said the reports
came from helicopter pilots.
"The Coast Guard is doing everything in its power to try to rescue
the people." Four frigates were expected to arrive at the site
soon, he added. (Map of the
area)
The Egyptian government has called their Saudi counterparts in the
port of Jedda to seek help, he said.
Adel Shoukri told CNN from the company's headquarters in Cairo the
ship disappeared at midnight (5 p.m. Thursday ET) from radar
screens.
The Egyptian government had initiated a search for the 25-year-old
liner, which can carry 1,487 passengers, he added.
Helicopters have spotted bodies floating on the sea and one
lifeboat carrying three people in the vicinity of where the ship
was last seen on the radar screens, maritime officials told The
Associated Press.
The ship was due to have arrived at Safaga at 3 a.m. local time,
but did not, the officials added.
CNN's Ben Wedeman said most of those on board would be
working-class Egyptians returning to Egypt after taking part in the
hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
He said that the weather was not too bad -- though fairly windy
with temperatures cooler than the average for the rest of the year.
Wederman said that area of the Red Sea sees a lot of shipping
traffic as it is near the Suez Canal.
David Osler, of Lloyd's List, told CNN while it was too early to
speculate on the cause of the ship's disappearance, the vessel was
a roll-on roll-off ferry of design known to suffer stability
problems.
"Once a small amount of water gets on board it can set up an
uncontrollable rocking that causes rapid capsize," he said.
He said safety standards in the developed world had improved
markedly in the after the Pride of Free Enterprise sank at
Zeebruge, Belgium, in 1987, killing 193 passengers.
The ship, which was built in 1970, was involved in a collision in
1999, he said.
"This vessel was pensioned off from Italy. It may have been
overloaded," he said.
The ship is owned by the Egyptian firm El-Salaam Maritime Transport
Co. Some of the passengers are believed to be pilgrims returning
from the annual hajj to Mecca, which ended last month
