Relatives attack ferry office
2006-02-06 10:37
Safaga - Hundreds of relatives of passengers drowned on a Red Sea ferry attacked the offices of the owners on Monday, throwing its furniture into the street and burning the company's signboard.
Riot police intervened and fired tear gas to restore order.
The mob broke into the offices of El Salam Maritime in this Red Sea port early in the morning and began throwing everything out into the street.
The rioters took a large photo of one of the company's ferries and burned it in the middle of the road. They also tore down the company's signboard from the front of the building and set it on fire.
After the police secured the offices, one civilian was seen holding his head in pain. It was not immediately known how he was injured.
Some relatives set fires to tires on roads leading to the port, effectively closing the roads.
El Salaam owned the Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98 which sank in the dark hours of Friday morning while sailing across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia to the Egyptian port of Safaga with more than 1 400 passengers and crew. Only 401 of those on board are known to have survived. Most of the passengers were low-income Egyptians returning from working in Saudi Arabia.
Relatives of the passengers have complained bitterly that the company failed to inform them about who had drowned and who had survived.
- AP