Red Sea ferry sinks

[ScreamingEagle]

Unbelievable:
Captain 'was the first to leave,' one says; hope fades for 800 people missing
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11157659/

Unbelievable:
Egyptians rejected British offer of help to sinking ferry (also the U.S. & Israel)
The ferry made a run for the Egyptian coast 112 miles away instead of the Saudi coast only 18 miles away.

Egyptian officials turned down offers of help from the Royal Navy after a Red Sea ferry caught fire and sank with the loss of more than 1,000 lives, it was revealed today.

It also emerged that the crew decided to make a run for the Egyptian coast 112 miles away after fire broke out in the parking bay, despite only being 18 miles from the Saudi shore.

When the fire started on board the Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98, panic spread quickly and some survivors claimed the crew locked cabin doors from the outside to keep people off the deck.

As the blaze later raged out of control, passengers who weren’t locked in rushed to one side of the 35-year-old vessel. High winds compounded the imbalance and the ship sank quickly with more than 1,400 passengers and crew and 220 cars after struggling to within about 57 miles of an Egyptian port.

The rescue effort was slow to start – initial offers of help were rejected - and two days after the ship set sail from Dubah on the Saudi coast for the crossing to Safaga, Egypt, on the opposite side of sea, just 376 survivors had been found.

“Fire erupted in the parking bay where the cars were,” said passenger Ahmed Abdel Wahab, 30, an Egyptian who works in Saudi Arabia. “We told the crew: ‘Let’s turn back, let’s call for help,’ but they refused and said everything was under control.”

As passengers began to panic, he said, “crew members locked up some women in their cabins.” He did not explain if the women were confined as a matter of modesty or because they were causing a disturbance. Some survivors said a number of women were screaming when the first was first reported.

“After a while, the ship started to list and they couldn’t control the fire. Then we heard an explosion and five minutes later the ship sank”, Wahab said.

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=171697788&p=y7y698494

 

[NATO AIR]

Appalling that the Egyptian people should suffer because of the arrogance, ignorance and corruption of their government. Can we please go ahead and get the Muslim Brotherhood in power already?

 

[GotZoom]

It's Bush's fault.

 

[NATO AIR]

It's Bush's fault.

always, i've been scanning DU and Kos for the first signs of the vile charge.