Cruise Ship, 1300 Passengers, Disappears in Red Sea (Egyptian authorities)

Salem Radio Network News | Feb. 3, 2006 | SRN News

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

A cruise ship carrying 1300 passengers in the Red Sea has been reported disappeared from radar by Egyptian authorities. No other details....

[mewzilla]

There's some confusion about whether it's the 89 or the 98. I just saw a report on the Beeb that said her sister ship went down in just three and a half minutes a few years back. Reuters reporting dozens of bodies being recovered. Twelve survivors recovered so far.

Prayers for the passengers and their rescuers.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Those are two different vessels.

The top is the "Salam 89"

The Bottom is the Al Salam 98.

It has been reported as both in different stories leading to the confusion.

[gridlock]

I think you're right on the money, backhoe. Look at that new superstructure. Obviously not the original design.

[beyond the sea]

That vessel had a lot of tophamper ( structure above deck )

Yep

[Moose4]

One of these things is not like the other. Sounds like a lot of conflicting information going around. The top ship is more clearly a ferry, the bottom one does look more like a cruise ship than a car ferry.

And that second one does look mighty topheavy.

This has the potential to be one of the worst maritime disasters of all time.

}:-)4

[Robert A Cook PE]

We've lost several (badly overloaded!) ferries in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Look at how the India/the third world/the Islamic world very, very often overloads cars, trucks, buses, trains.

That kind of casual disregard for how to ride and load transportation (on VISIBLE wheels and roads!) creates the loads that are INVISBLE and not automatically balanced!) on watercraft.

[gridlock]

Thanks.

[Smokin' Joe]

For the lovers of tinfoil hats and Reichstag fires, the Iranians do have those 'cute' little subs now...

doffs aluminum chapeau

[johnny7]

5th century people cramed onto 20th century technology = disaster

[stlnative]

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-02/03/content_516974.htm

The ferry was on an overnight 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.

According to the company's Web site, the Al Salam 89 can carry about 1,400 passengers. Egyptian officials and media called it the Al Salam 98 but the company's Web site names it as the Al Salam 89.

[johnny7]

crammed

[stlnative]

see post 110

[madconserv]

A sudden capsize would explain why there was only one life boat spotted.

[usmcobra]

I beat you to it, and I am quite serious when I say that the Iranians might have sunk this one thinking it was one of our hospital ships or Cruise liners.

[dread78645]

The top ship is more clearly a ferry, the bottom one does look more like a cruise ship than a car ferry.

Correct. Passenger ferries like the one shown are common in the Med/Red Sea.

[csvset]

Look at how the India/the third world/the Islamic world very, very often overloads cars, trucks, buses, trains.

Several years ago I saw a program, (either TLC or Discovery ) about a ferry that capsized. I believe it was around Indonesia. Almost all the locals drowned. The handful of survivors were westerners, in particular, a British couple.

It was an absolutely riveting story. She said most of the locals couldn't swim.

[Robert A Cook PE]

http://www.cybersalt.org/cleanlaugh/images/03/trainbringafriend.htm

This kind of overloading "might" - can't rule out terrorists yet. - cause the problem.

[backhoe]

Look at that new superstructure. Obviously not the original design.

That's always a problem, modifying a ship... dimly, from my seagoing past I recall "Metacentric Height."

But in less grandiose terms, if you add weight, or a lot of sail area ( high sides the wind can push against ) above the waterline, it obviously makes tipping the ship over easier.

It's a damned shame- there are so many things on a ship that can catch you and drag you under ( not to mention getting sucked into voids filling with water ) that the loss of life is not surprising.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Oddly enough the photo used by ChinaDaily in post #110 appears to me to be the Al Salam 95.

Hopefully, I don't confuse things further.

[commish]

While I am not one to dismiss terrorism easily, I think Occam's Razor can be applied to this accident quite easily

1. Severe Thunderstorms in the area
2. Extremely top heavy ferry/ship loaded to capacity
3. sister ship sank in less than 5 minutes
4. Insurer calls the ship a "piece of junk"

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened here. Fully loaded, top heavy ship with a design that has a history of quick sinkings gets caught in a storm that probably produces heavy seas and strong straight line winds -- Voila, capsize and gone.