Egypt: Relatives of victims sack offices of ferry firm

They destroyed furniture at Al-Salam Maritime’s offices in the Red Sea port of Agafa Safaga, Egypt, threw fixtures and fittings onto the street, and set fire to the company’s sign. They also burned a large picture of one of the company’s fleet of ships.

Others set fires to car tyres, closing the roads leading to the port until the arrival of firefighters. A fire engine was attacked, and riot police fired tear gas. At least one man was injured in struggles with the police.

About 800 people are still missing out of 1,400 people on board when the ship sank late Thursday, February 2, after a fire broke out in the parking bay. Almost 200 corpses have been recovered from the sea, along with 400 survivors. Only a handful of survivors were pulled from the sea on Sunday, which suggests that the final death toll may reach 1,000.

Most passengers were Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia.

Survivors have told how the captain of the ageing roll-on, roll-off ferry, Sayed Omar, insisted on continuing on to Egypt, 110 miles away, after a fire had broken out just 20 miles off the coast of Saudi Arabia. The rescue mission was delayed for hours, until after the ship had failed to arrive in port, leaving people in the water for more than 13 hours with only a minority able to cram onto the few life rafts that were launched.

This wanton loss of life has generated intense hostility towards the company and the government of President Hosni Mubarak.

Riot police were deployed in Safaga port on Sunday after relatives stormed the dockside demanding information. Several hundred also gathered at a morgue in Cairo where some 68 bodies were taken.

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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/feb2006/egyp-f07.shtml