Egypt blames captain for ferry disaster

CAIRO (Reuters) – The captain of an Egyptian ferry which
sank in the Red Sea in February was to blame for the disaster
which killed more than 1,000 people, Egypt’s travel minister
was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Mohamed Lutfi Mansour said the captain of the boat Al Salam
98, which sank en route to Egypt from Saudi Arabia, had not
sent a distress signal until the moment the boat sank, Egypt’s
official MENA news agency reported. The captain did not
survive.

“The committee concerned with analyzing the black box
defined the causes of the sinking of the ferry as being by
error from the captain,” Mansour said.

The MENA report did not give further details.

Of the 1,414 people aboard the ship, only 387 people
survived. Survivors said a fire broke out below deck shortly
after the boat left Saudi Arabia. The vessel then began to list
but continued on course for two hours before sinking quickly.