JEDDAH, 18 October 2006 — The fate of Al-Salam Boccaccio 98, the Egyptian ferry that went down in the Red Sea on Feb. 3, killing hundreds, is still fresh on the minds of anyone traveling between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Many pilgrims choose this economical form of transportation when traveling from the African continent, in spite of the occasional tragic sinking and the perpetual sorry conditions of these under-regulated vessels. In a report in Asharq Al-Awsat, pilgrims described the experience of crossing the Red Sea by ferry.
“No air conditioning, not even adequate circulations. The kitchen lacks all means of cleanliness. Workers there are not wearing uniforms. They don’t have health licenses, as far as I could tell,” said Muhammed Abdullah, one of about 1,300 pilgrims who stepped off a ferry at the Jeddah Islamic Port this week on their way to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.
He continued his list of grievances with the journey he had just completed. “The water smells nasty, it’s obviously polluted with petrol. Food is not covered. Some passengers said they saw cockroaches in their meals. The toilets are filthy; the pillows, too. They’ve never been washed.”
Another passenger who disembarked with Abdullah, Abdulmuti Shihata, added: “I saw rotten and moldy food, unfrozen meats and chickens.” Even first-class passengers say they feel more like they’re in fourth class.
Capt. Ahmed Rajab, who was piloting this particular ferry, blames the management for the service problems, as well as for the catastrophes that can occur on these ships, which have a worldwide reputation for poor management and overcrowding.
“The owners allow 1,300 passengers for a ship that is designed to carry only 500 passengers,” said Rajab. “They feel OK about doing so because they know that we are coursing only 20 miles off the coast, because we are aware of the conditions of the engines, and the heavy load of the ship.”
Top-heavy ferries are notoriously ill-designed to handle choppy waters or minor collisions with other ships or reefs. These ferries are decommissioned in the developing countries and then become hand-me-downs for use in poorer countries, where regulations are virtually non-existent, or, if regulations exist, corruption, bribery or simple apathy allows these vessels to continue on their journeys as floating catastrophes.
To maximize capacity, owners modify these ships by adding extra floors, exacerbating their already poor top-heavy design, increasing the chances of fatal overturns.
Hasain Al-Shareef, the head of Human Rights Institution in Saudi Arabia’s Western Region, said that ferry passengers must complain about the poor service they get and the bad condition of the ship.
“We consider all complaints that we get, and we investigate all the cases that we receive,” he said. “To do so we send specialists to address the issue, then we consult the responsible authorities.”
