By Jonathan Wright
CAIRO (Reuters) - A ferry carrying 1,300 passengers sank in the Red Sea overnight on a trip from Saudi Arabia to Egypt and search and rescue teams picked up dozens of dead bodies from the water, official sources said on Friday.
Some survivors were also brought ashore at the Egyptian port of Safaga, where the ferry had been scheduled to arrive at 2 a.m. (midnight GMT) on Friday morning, they added.
A search and rescue plane spotted a lifeboat near where the 11,800-tonne Al Salam 98 last had contact with shore at about 10 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Thursday evening, one official said.
Some earlier reports called the ferry the Al Salam 89 but a company official said that was a different vessel also owned by the el-Salam Maritime Transport Company.
"Dozens of bodies were picked up from the sea ... they were from the ferry," a police source at the port of Safaga said. Egyptian aircraft also saw bodies floating in the water, other security sources said.
Most of the passengers were Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia, officials said, but at this time of year many Egyptians are still on their way home from the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Egyptian state news agency MENA quoted official sources in Safaga as saying the ferry had sunk 57 miles from the Egyptian port of Hurghada, north of Safaga.
"Some of the passengers survived," it added.
The ferry was on a trip between the Saudi port of Duba and Safaga, both at the northern end of the Red Sea. It had originally come from Jeddah, the main port for the pilgrimage.
Coastal stations did not receive any SOS message from the crew, said Adel Shukri, the head of administration at the shipping company, which is based in Cairo.
The weather had been very poor overnight on the Saudi side of the Red Sea, with heavy winds and rain, he said. But visibility should have been good out at sea, he added.
CAIRO (Reuters) - A ferry carrying 1,300 passengers sank in the Red Sea overnight on a trip from Saudi Arabia to Egypt and search and rescue teams picked up dozens of dead bodies from the water, official sources said on Friday.
Some survivors were also brought ashore at the Egyptian port of Safaga, where the ferry had been scheduled to arrive at 2 a.m. (midnight GMT) on Friday morning, they added.
A search and rescue plane spotted a lifeboat near where the 11,800-tonne Al Salam 98 last had contact with shore at about 10 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Thursday evening, one official said.
Some earlier reports called the ferry the Al Salam 89 but a company official said that was a different vessel also owned by the el-Salam Maritime Transport Company.
"Dozens of bodies were picked up from the sea ... they were from the ferry," a police source at the port of Safaga said. Egyptian aircraft also saw bodies floating in the water, other security sources said.
Most of the passengers were Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia, officials said, but at this time of year many Egyptians are still on their way home from the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Egyptian state news agency MENA quoted official sources in Safaga as saying the ferry had sunk 57 miles from the Egyptian port of Hurghada, north of Safaga.
"Some of the passengers survived," it added.
The ferry was on a trip between the Saudi port of Duba and Safaga, both at the northern end of the Red Sea. It had originally come from Jeddah, the main port for the pilgrimage.
Coastal stations did not receive any SOS message from the crew, said Adel Shukri, the head of administration at the shipping company, which is based in Cairo.
The weather had been very poor overnight on the Saudi side of the Red Sea, with heavy winds and rain, he said. But visibility should have been good out at sea, he added.
בילד פונעם שיף