Red Sea ferry wreck found
2006-02-17 10:39
Cairo - The wreck of a ferry that sank in the Red Sea, killing about 1 000 people, has been found and a search for its "black box" is under way, says Egypt's transport minister on Thursday.
Ships carried a Voyage Data Recorder, similar to the device used on planes, to store details like the position of the ship, direction of travel and weather conditions.
The reports said that minister Mohamed Loutfi Mansour said the Al Salam 98 had been found on the seabed in 800m of water, 56 miles from Safaga, the Egyptian port it was heading for when it sank.
Mansour said the Egyptian authorities were working with international experts. The team planned to start work to recover the black box on Saturday using a robot and would take pictures of the ship to find clues to how it sank.
The 35-year-old ferry was carrying 1 414 people from Saudi Arabia to Egypt when it disappeared on February 3. Only 388 people were rescued. According to reports, the public prosecutor said on Thursday that 409 bodies had been recovered so far.
Families of the victims had criticised the government for not responding quickly enough to the sinking and the ferry firm for operating an old vessel.