Outrage after ferry acquittals

2008-07-27 18:10

Cairo - Scuffles erupted at an Egyptian court on Sunday when five of six defendants were cleared of blame for a 2006 ferry sinking in which more than 1 000 people died, Egypt's worst maritime disaster.

Hysterical relatives voiced anger as only Salaheddin Gomaa, captain of another ferry, the Saint Catherine, was jailed for six months for failing to come to the assistance of the Al-Salam Boccaccio 98, a judicial source said.

Public prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmud issued a statement after the court decision saying he would appeal the ruling and called for a retrial.

The Al-Salam sank in the middle of the Red Sea on February 3 2006 as it was carrying more than 1 400 people from Saudi Arabia to the Egyptian port of Safaga, where the trial was held.

Dozens of relatives, many carrying photographs of their dead loved ones, were crammed into the court building, although the heavy security presence prevented them from entering the courtroom itself.

Most of the victims were from poor families in southern Egypt, and the court scenes were reminiscent of the emotional outpourings in the days following the sinking as anxious relatives waited in vain for bodies to be recovered.

"The day of the accident everybody saw that the ship was in bad shape and two years later they say the boat was in good shape. It doesn't make sense," one man told Al-Jazeera.

The court found that Gomaa had failed to show "compassion" and "did not do his duty by failing to go to the rescue of victims."

The Saint Catherine captain was also fined 10 000 Egyptian pounds ($1 880) at the end of the long-running trial.

Main defendant Mamduh Ismail, who owned the 36-year-old Al-Salam and is a member of parliament's upper house which is appointed by President Hosni Mubarak, was acquitted.

The passengers on the ferry were mostly Egyptian migrant workers, some of whom were bringing months', if not years', worth of savings to their families back home.

- AFP