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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: February 5, 2006 |
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An Egyptian passenger ferry carrying around 1,400 people, mostly Egyptian workers returning from Saudi Arabia, sank in the Red Sea overnight. Coast Guard vessels pulled some 185 bodies from the sea, and at least 314 survivors escaped on lifeboats.
Four Egyptian rescue ships reached the scene Friday afternoon, about 10 hours after the 35-year-old ferry likely went down.
As darkness descended Friday at the site, around 95 kilometers (57 miles) off the Egyptian port of Hurghada, there were fears the death toll could be extremely high. Any survivors still in the Red Sea could go into shock as temperatures fell in the already cold waters, which average in the upper 60s Fahrenheit (around 19 Celsius) in February.
The ferry did not have enough lifeboats, a spokesman for President Hosni Mubarak said.
A spokesman for the Transportation Ministry, Mohammed Amin, told The Associated Press that 314 people had been rescued so far, including a child about 3 years old.
He would not comment on the number of dead, saying, "We're rescuing survivors, then we will recover bodies and victims."
But a police official at the operations control room in Safaga, where Transport Minister Mohammed Lutfy Mansour was directing rescue efforts, said 185 bodies were found. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. |
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