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....

[precedence]

Grrr....so much mis-info floating around FR this morning. Here's some info hot off the wires.

Name of boat: Al Salam 98

Weather

There were high winds and a sandstorm overnight on Saudi Arabia's west coast, where the ship departed from. The ship sailed from the Saudi port of Dubah at 7 p.m. Thursday night and was scheduled to arrive at Egypt's port of Safaga _ 120 miles away _ eight hours later.

Ship's maintenance

The rough weather must have been the main factor for bringing this vessel down," he told the BBC from Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, adding that the ship was "very well-maintained."

Mayday was sent

MENA said the Saint Catherine, another ferry traveling the same route overnight in the opposite direction, received a distress message in which the Al Salam captain said his ship was in danger of sinking. The agency did not say how the Saint Catherine reacted.

[Strategerist]

Jeddah is reporting "Heavy Sand Storm" right now.

Sustained winds not THAT high but I have no idea where the Jeddah reporting station is; winds always much higher over water.

[Trust but Verify]

Good morning. At least there are some survivors who should be able to tell authorities what happened.

[Bookwoman]

I am wondering if they weren't carrying something in addition to people on this ferry - like explosive goodies some of the Hajjis were bringing back to carry on jihad... this might be an "ooops" moment - not that anyone would ever admit it!

[show me state]

Where did the accident occur?

The London-based Lloyds Casualty Service, citing the Egyptian defense ministry, said the ship was believed to have sunk at latitude 27.08 degrees North and longitude 34.57 degrees East, about half way through its voyage.

[Strategerist]

Given that overloaded third-worldish ferries (or even not, consider the Estonian ferry in the Baltic a few years ago) sink on a regular basis, and we know the weather was bad, I doubt any exotic explanations are necessary.

[eraser2005]

Possibly... but ships do go down without distress signals...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Lermontov_(ship)

Then there was the Edmund Fitzgerald...

Or there was the Estonia, which managed to get a distress signal out, but went down frighteningly quickly with 852 of 989 passengers and crew....

[Strategerist]

Or there was the Estonia, which managed to get a distress signal out, but went down frighteningly quickly with 852 of 989 passengers and crew....

Yeah, that was 1994, longer ago than I thought...was just looking at that.

I wonder if this ferry has bow doors for driving on the same as the Estonia...

[spectre]

Good morning :)

Good point. I can't even imagine what happened.

sw

[Rte66]

Yes, that's what I was wondering, too. The first news reports I saw had the one with Boccaccio in the name - Al Salam (Boccaccio) 98. Could some of these have been Italian boats originally? Several more have Italian names.

But for a workaday ferry boat, Boccaccio in the name didn't make sense, unless a family name or something--but in Italy, not Egypt, lol.

And yeah, that was the movie--1962. Sophia Loren! Anita Ekberg! Romy Schneider! It was 4 stories adapted and updated from Boccaccio's Decameron, written in the style of Chaucer, a la Canterbury Tales - a little bawdy -- but in verses like that. Chaucer was said to have copied Boccaccio, who was more a poet than writer.

Only reason I know this *blush* is because we had a somewhat wild nightclub here named that in the late 60s, maybe early 70s.

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

I do not believe any cruise ship flies the Egyptian flag.

Bull.

Someone will ping me if I am wrong. Probably some over sized transport/ferry. I saw "cruise" the way Americans define "cruise ship"--the billion dollar style.

[eraser2005]

I think we're on the same wavelength - they're reporting that it was a roll-on roll-off ferry... Based on this picture, it doesn't look like it has bow doors - looks more like it loads and unloads from the rear.

http://faktaomfartyg.com/boccaccio_1971_b_2.htm

It would be a shame (but wouldn't surprise me) if a ship went down for the same reason as the Estonia when the problem and a solution are known....

[Wiz]

Maybe we will see them in Bermuda Triangle some day...

[eraser2005]

Yes, it was an Italian ship - it appears from what I can tell to have been sold to Al Salam Shipping in 1998, reregistered and put into service there in January of 1999.

[Strategerist]

I'd suspect it somehow getting broadside to the wind and sea and rolling as more likely, though. Especially as top-heavy as it looks.

Hard to build up a really big sea in the Red Sea because it's so narrow, though. Could be some sort of rogue wave.

[phoenix0468]

Not if it capsizes. Capsized ships can go down in minutes, even seconds depending on their size. There were reports of rough seas on the ships route.

[Rte66]

Ah, that makes sense now. Thanks.

[DeaconNoGood]

Looks like the Submarine Ride at Disney World has another customer.

Oops! Thats a real Iranian Navy submarine.

[johnny7]

Then there was the Edmund Fitzgerald...

The legend lives on from Cairo on down
Of the big gulf that they call the Red Sea
The Sea, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the winds of al Qaeda turn gloomy.

With a load of fazools - 1000 or more
Than the Al Salam weighed empty
That good ship and true was a turd to be chewed
When the gales of al Qaeda came early

[LizardQueen]

I probably shouldn't be but I'm laughing until I'm crying right now. Well done song....

LQ