'Captain to blame for disaster'
2006-04-01 23:22
Cairo - The captain of an Egyptian ferry, which sank in the Red Sea in February killing more than 1 000, is to blame for the disaster said Egypt's travel minister on Saturday.
Mohamed Lutfi Mansour said the captain of the boat Al Salam 98, which sank en route to Egypt from Saudi Arabia, had not sent a distress signal until the moment the boat sank.
The captain did not survive.
The minister was quoted in a report by Egypt's official MENA news agency.
Mansour said: "The committee concerned with analysing the black box defined the causes of the sinking of the ferry as being by error from the captain."
The Mema report did not give further details.
Of the 1 414 people on board the ship, 387 survived.
Survivors said a fire broke out below deck shortly after the boat left Saudi Arabia.
The vessel then began to list, but continued on course for two hours before sinking quickly.