EGYPT/SAUDI ARABIA: Ferry Captain who refused to help a stricken Egyptian ferry which sank in the Red Sea is suspended from his job

Record ID: 189490

  • Title: EGYPT/SAUDI ARABIA: Ferry Captain who refused to help a stricken Egyptian ferry which sank in the Red Sea is suspended from his job
  • Date: 5th February 2006
  • Summary: W3)SAFAGA, EGYPT (FEBRUARY 5, 2006) (REUTERS) SOUNDBITE (Arabic) OFFICIAL TELLING CAPTAIN SALAH JOMAA, THE CAPTAIN OF SHIP NAMED SAINT CATHERINE, WHO REFUSED TO TAKE PASSENGERS FROM FERRY WHICH SANK IN RED SEA, SAYING: "You are suspended from working until the investigation is complete, and, if you dont mind, go back to your company and don't go out alone on your ship." SOUNDBITE (Arabic) CAPTAIN SALAH JOMAA, THE CAPTAIN OF SHIP NAMED SAINT CATHERINE SAYING: "What about my things?" (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) OFFICIAL SAYING: "We will send a committee and it will bring it to you." (SOUNDBITE (Arabic) reporter saying: "What happened?" SOUNDBITE (Arabic) CAPTAIN SALAH JOMAA, THE CAPTAIN OF SHIP NAMED SAINT CATHERINE SAYING: "After the investigation is done." (SOUNDBITE (Arabic) reporter saying: "You need to defend yourself." (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) OFFICIAL SAYING: "The order starts from 4.00 today. 2 mins after the accident." CAPTAIN ARGUES WITH RELATIVE OF FERRY DISASTER VICTIM SOUNDBITE (Arabic) CAPTAIN SALAH JOMAA, THE CAPTAIN OF SHIP NAMED SAINT CATHERINE SAYING: "I am the one who told all unit that they should head to it. The boat was 2 hours after me and I (had) passed the boat." (SOUNDBITE) RELATIVE OF VICTIM OF FERRY DISASTER SAYING: "Why didn't you go back to them?" SOUNDBITE (Arabic) CAPTAIN SALAH JOMAA, THE CAPTAIN OF SHIP NAMED SAINT CATHERINE SAYING: "I had 1,800 passengers with me." RELATIVE OF ONE OF VICTIMS CONFRONTS JOMAA VAN DRIVING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 20th February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVABYVMS3X9WYXLCYUCMVZ0HJ9ED
  • Story Text: On Sunday (February 5) the captain of a ferry who received a distress call from the Egyptian ferry Al Salam 98 which sank in the Red Sea, was suspended from his job, pending an investigation into the distaster.
    Salah Jomaa was the captain of the Saint Catherine, a ferry travelling in the opposite direction from the Al Salam 98 at the time of the tragedy on the night of Thursday and Friday in the Red Sea between Duba in Saudi Arabia and the Egyptian port of Safaga.
    Egyptian state news agency MENA had reported that the Saint Catherine, which was travelling the same route overnight as the Al Salam 98 in the opposite direction, received a distress message in which the Al Salam's captain, Sayed Omar, said his ship was in danger of sinking.
    In Safaga on Sunday Jomaa was accosted by a relative of one of the victims of the ferry disaster, who demanded to know why he had not turned back to help passengers on the Al Salam 98 ferry once he had heard the distress call. Jomaa answered that he had decided not to answer the distress call because he had 1,800 people on his ship and was two hours away from the other ferry.
    On Sunday, police said 700 people remained missing and search teams have recovered 195 bodies.
    The new figures bring the total number of survivors to more than 460.
    Giving the most authoritative account yet of what happened, an officer from the Al Salam 98 said the car deck on the doomed ferry had flooded as crew members battled a fire, causing listing which eventually took the ship down.
    Rani Kamal, third officer on the ship, told the Arabic news channel Al Arabiya from a Saudi hospital the car deck had flooded during the firefighting operation, making the ship list. Government officials said earlier the blaze began in a vehicle.
    Kamal, was rescued from a dinghy by Saudi coastguards.
    Passengers have reported a fire below decks and serious listing.
    The captain of the ship, Sayed Omar, is unaccounted for. The second officer, who has been rescued, has spoken to the authorities but not to the media.
    Passengers accused the captain and crew of negligence, saying Omar abandoned the ship before making sure all the passengers had left the vessel. They said crew prevented them from wearing lifejackets and did not get them into lifeboats.
    Egyptian media and commentators have accused the operators of making the ferry unsafe by adding extra decks after buying it from Italy and using a Panamanian flag to avoid safety requirements.
    The owners of the ferry, the Cairo-based el Salam Maritime Transport Company, said in a statement the ferry complied with all international safety regulations and was certified to work in European waters.
    The unanswered questions are why the captain and crew did not send a distress signal to shore stations and why they do not appear to have evacuated the ship in good time. Survivors say the fire burned for several hours before the ferry sank.
    Major-General Mahfouz Taha, head of the Red Sea Ports Authority, confirmed that the first the authorities heard of a possible problem aboard the Al Salam 98 was when the ferry did not turn up in Safaga on Friday.
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