900 still missing, survivors say ship was on fire

General Mahfouz Taha, head of the Red Sea Ports Authority, said rescue efforts would continue, but a source said hopes were fading. “There aren’t expected to be many survivors, because it’s been so long since the ship sank,” he said.

Hundreds of weeping relatives of the passengers gathered at port where the ferry was scheduled to arrive 2 am local time on Friday.

Doctors in hospitals in Safaga, 600 km from Cairo, and nearby Hurghada said they had been told to expect survivors but none had arrived yet. Officials said survivors had been kept on rescue ships and some would be transferred to hospitals.

It was initially reported that poor weather was the likely cause behind the sinking of the vessel but Egypt’s presidential spokesman suggested there could have been problems with the ship.

“The speed at which the ship sank and insufficient lifeboats indicate there was some deficiency,” Suleiman Awad informed. However, an official said the Saudi authorities had confirmed everything was in order when the ship sailed. One expert said the ship had a loading mechanism for vehicles that could have let in water.

Egypt’s MENA news agency said the passenger list included 1,158 Egyptians, 99 Saudis, six Syrians, four Palestinians, a Canadian, a Yemeni, an Omani, a Sudanese and one person from the UAE.

The survivors had a different tale to tell. They said a fire broke out on the ferry at least three hours before it sank .

“Two hours after our departure (from Dubah) thick smoke started coming out of the engines,” 34-year-old Egyptian Raafat Al-Sayyed said. He said the crew told the passengers to go up onto the bridge so they could extinguish the blaze.

“But the fire continued for a long time, and they kept on saying that they were getting it under control,” said Kamel Mohammad Abdel Askari, 48, another Egyptian.

The survivors added the ferry continued sailing before suddenly going down in less than 10 minutes.