1300 Dead in Egyptian Ferry Disaster

Sunk ferry 'may have been short of lifeboats'

· Roll-on, roll-off ferry sinks off Egypt
· Over 1,000 people missing
· 203 rescued, minister says

Staff and agencies
Friday February 3, 2006


The Salam "Boccaccio" 98 ferry, which has sunk in the Red Sea. Photograph: Yvan Perchoc/AFP/Getty
 

The Egyptian car ferry that sank in the Red Sea with up to 1,500 people on board may not have had enough lifeboats to carry the passengers and crew, a presidential spokesman suggested tonight.

Over 1,000 people are missing after the Salam Boccaccio 98 sank overnight some 40 miles off the Egyptian port of Hurghada.

An Egyptian official said "dozens of bodies" had been pulled from the water and the Egyptian transport minister, Mohammed Lufti Mansour, said 203 survivors had been rescued. Fears were rising for the rest of the 1,300-1,500 people said to have been on board.

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