I have been following with concern the fallout of the terrible tragedy that befell the Egyptian ferryboat “Salam 98”.
The sinking of this boat with the loss of over a thousand souls was a great shock. A greater shock was the incompetence, even corruption of the Egyptian authorities that allowed this tragedy to happen.
Public opinion has been aroused in Egypt and calls for a serious investigation are in all the media. Authorities are scrambling to deal with the popular outrage and reforms may actually be implemented.
For a number of years this ferryboat plied its way back and forth across the Red Sea between the port of Safaga on the Egyptian side and the port of Duba on the Saudi side.
We are all familiar now with the uproar going on on the Egyptian side of the sea, but, what about the other shore?
What, I wonder, has been their response to the tragedy?
My knowledge of maritime law approaches zero, but common sense — I know that common sense does not always apply to government matters — says that a port is responsible for the condition of all ships using that port. They are responsible to ensure that they are safe for the transport of passengers and goods.
This is doubly so for a ship that has been regularly transporting tens of thousands of passengers over a very long number of years.
Surely, the Duba authorities should have at least checked to see if the ferry had adequate emergency lifeboats and life vests. They also should have made sure that the crew was well trained in emergency evacuation procedures.
I suppose that the Duba authorities preferred to leave this responsibility on the shoulders of the Egyptians. After all, it was an Egyptian ship and if they drown then what business is it of ours?
The Duba authorities failed in my opinion to realize that Egyptians were human beings. And, as a further complication, it turns out that the ferry was also transporting Saudis.
Around ninety of them drowned in the tragedy.
Is it not time for us to have a serious investigation on the Duba port authority? Or are the number of Saudi dead not large enough? I would like to ask the readers of this article to answer the following question: What is the number of dead necessary for an Arab government to take a disaster or accident seriously? Is it one hundred, one thousand or ten thousand?
The readers with the correct answer will receive a life vest.
