CAIRO: Scuffles broke out at an Egyptian court yesterday when five of six defendants were cleared of blame for a 2006 ferry sinking in which more than 1,000 people died.
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 rescue of the Al-Salam Boccaccio 98.
Public prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmud issued a statement after the decision saying he would appeal the ruling, and called for a retrial.
The Al-Salam sank in the middle of the Red Sea on Feb. 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.
The vessel’s owner, Mamdouh Ismail, is a member of Parliament’s upper house, and his son Amr was a top executive in the ferry company. They fled Egypt after the sinking. The ship’s captain is also missing and presumed dead.
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). 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.
“On 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 television.
Adel Abdul Moula and his brother Basyuni, both of whom work in a hotel management company in Makkah, said they had lost eight members of their family in the tragedy, including their wives and children. “The verdict acquitting the owner of the ship is not fair. If he was not responsible, then who was responsible for the death of our kith and kin?” Abdul Moula asked.
Elaiwa Ali Hassan, a business executive who lost his wife and two daughters, charged that the verdict was influenced by politics. “The judge should have done justice to those who had refused to accept compensation for the death of their relatives,” he said.
Hassan Fadlullah, a teacher who lost his brother in the accident, said the verdict was contrary to what was expected.
— With input from Galal Fakkar
