Passenger ship lost in Red Sea; 1,400 people on board
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Lifeboats, bodies reported near where ship last seen
Friday, February 3, 2006; Posted: 6:33 a.m. EST (11:33 GMT)
CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- An aging Egyptian passenger ship carrying more than 1,400 people has disappeared in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast, officials say.
The ship, the Al Salam Boccaccio 98, left Dubah, western Saudi Arabia, en route to Egypt's southern port of Safaga, a spokesman for the El Islam Maritime Transport Co. told CNN.
State-run Nile Television, quoting the Red Sea governor, said the ship was carrying 1,415 people -- 1,310 of them Egyptians.
"Our understanding now is that there are survivors," said Egyptian Minister of Transport Mohamed Loutfy Mansour, who said the reports came from helicopter pilots.
"The Coast Guard is doing everything in its power to try to rescue the people." Four frigates were expected to arrive at the site soon, he added. (Map of the area)
The Egyptian government has called their Saudi counterparts in the port of Jedda to seek help, he said.
Adel Shoukri told CNN from the company's headquarters in Cairo the ship disappeared at midnight (5 p.m. Thursday ET) from radar screens.
The Egyptian government had initiated a search for the 25-year-old liner, which can carry 1,487 passengers, he added.
Helicopters have spotted bodies floating on the sea and one lifeboat carrying three people in the vicinity of where the ship was last seen on the radar screens, maritime officials told The Associated Press.
The ship was due to have arrived at Safaga at 3 a.m. local time, but did not, the officials added.
CNN's Ben Wedeman said most of those on board would be working-class Egyptians returning to Egypt after taking part in the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
He said that the weather was not too bad -- though fairly windy with temperatures cooler than the average for the rest of the year. Wederman said that area of the Red Sea sees a lot of shipping traffic as it is near the Suez Canal.
David Osler, of Lloyd's List, told CNN while it was too early to speculate on the cause of the ship's disappearance, the vessel was a roll-on roll-off ferry of design known to suffer stability problems.
"Once a small amount of water gets on board it can set up an uncontrollable rocking that causes rapid capsize," he said.
He said safety standards in the developed world had improved markedly in the after the Pride of Free Enterprise sank at Zeebruge, Belgium, in 1987, killing 193 passengers.
The ship, which was built in 1970, was involved in a collision in 1999, he said.
"This vessel was pensioned off from Italy. It may have been overloaded," he said.
The ship is owned by the Egyptian firm El-Salaam Maritime Transport Co. Some of the passengers are believed to be pilgrims returning from the annual hajj to Mecca, which ended last month -
tell me how can ship just disappear? any marine engineers here?
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disappear from radar
now they are searching for it
nobody is saying they disappeared because of some supernatural forces -
Ships disappearing is always about the supernatural. -
Some survivors were found in lifeboats, according to CNN.
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aeroplane also can disappear from radar...as in air crash....same idea applies to ships.Originally posted by valentinoo:tell me how can ship just disappear? -
hollywood ppl must be very excited
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new movie bix iffice hitOriginally posted by superstar123:hollywood ppl must be very excited -
Could it be another case of overloading or Titanic ? But Red Sea no icebergs.
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i suspect the ship is torpedoed. The lost link from radar is too fast, even for sinking due to rocks.
Further that place very frequent by ships so sea is deep. And cannot be collision with another ship, cuz the other ship will also be missing or that the other ship if survived would have reported the incident.
So i believe it could be torpedoed. Well, check out the map and you see that the area is rather military sensitive. -
If that's the case, I pity the people onboard.Originally posted by nightzip:i suspect the ship is torpedoed. The lost link from radar is too fast, even for sinking due to rocks.
Further that place very frequent by ships so sea is deep. And cannot be collision with another ship, cuz the other ship will also be missing or that the other ship if survived would have reported the incident.
So i believe it could be torpedoed. Well, check out the map and you see that the area is rather military sensitive. -
3 survivior out of 1500ppl?
more than Titanic mate
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1497 eaten by hungry shark?
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Shark or Killer Whale ?Originally posted by Darkness_hacker99:1497 eaten by hungry shark?
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further, IF they cannot find back the ship in ONE piece, but shattered or disintegrated to pieces ==> you know that its either erroneously torpedoed or some terrorist bombed the ship.
so...we now wait to see if the ship is still intact or broken to many pieces. -
I got a feeling it might have been hit else it won't go missing. I doubt terrorist bomb their own people, do they ?
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They doOriginally posted by photo_seeker:I got a feeling it might have been hit else it won't go missing. I doubt terrorist bomb their own people, do they ?
In Iraq, in Jordan, in Morroco and even Saudi Arabia -
then, the supposed "explosion" could be due to inherent causes like explosion of the ship's engine, fuel, etc.
also possible. -
When it comes to terrorists... its hard to say. If there was 3 jews on that ship, some terrorist dun mind making 1397 others into martyrs just to kill that 3. Any terrorists here beg to differ?
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I just pity the lives lost.
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who knows, the area might be the next Bermuda Triangle.
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bermuda triangle jr.
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i think shd b a 35 year oldOriginally posted by valentinoo:The Egyptian government had initiated a search for the 25-year-old liner, which can carry 1,487 passengers, he added. -
No. I think is Ion CannonOriginally posted by nightzip:further, IF they cannot find back the ship in ONE piece, but shattered or disintegrated to pieces ==> you know that its either erroneously torpedoed or some terrorist bombed the ship.
so...we now wait to see if the ship is still intact or broken to many pieces. -
Well, who knowsOriginally posted by vIn.Warrior:who knows, the area might be the next Bermuda Triangle.