CAIRO // At least eight people were reported to have died and dozens missing after two passenger ferries collided on Friday evening on the Nile river.
But Egyptian rescue workers ended a search yesterday for people who were thought missing and police now say that initial estimates of about 20 missing passengers were wrong and that no one died in the accident late on Friday near the northern city of Rosetta.
No bodies have been recovered and there have been no missing persons reports filed, police said.
Reuters news agency originally put the number of missing - mostly women and children - at 80 and opposition legislators claimed in parliament yesterday that the government was prematurely abandoning the search for bodies.
The general prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud yesterday ordered an investigation into the collision between the two ferries, which took place near Port Rachid, Alexandria.
Counsellor Yasser el-Rifaei, the general lawyer of the Alexandria prosecutor's office, ordered yesterday the remand of the pilots of the two vessels for four days pending investigation. They were accused of unintentionally killing and injuring their passengers and not abiding by river safety regulations, according to a report on MENA, Egypt's official news agency.
Also yesterday, several lawmakers presented urgent queries in parliament about the accident, blaming it on the recklessness of the young pilots, government laxity in monitoring the implementation of safety regulations and of mismanaging the rescue.
The website of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group, quoted a woman named Sabah who was injured along with her daughter in the collision, and who blamed the accident on the two pilots of the motorboats.
She claimed they joked and piloted recklessly, until the smaller ferry hit the larger one, which Sabah was aboard, breaking it in half while the smaller vessel capsized.
The collision took place around 6pm Friday.
Abdel Hamid Zaghloul, the Brotherhood lawmaker of the Port Rachid area, complained at parliament yesterday about the failure of rescue teams of find any corpses 20 hours after the accident, and that he feared that many victims' bodies have floated downstream and are stuck in fish farms about 10 kilometres from the Mediterranean.
"Human tragedy in Rachid," read the headline of Al-Ahram yesterday, Egypt's largest-circulation, state-owned daily. The paper said that six had been hospitalised, and that three bodies had been recovered, including two children.
Such tragedies occur frequently in Egypt, especially in the transportation sector, and are blamed mainly on poor infrastructure and inept rescue efforts.
In February 2006, a ferry in the Red Sea caught fire and sank en route to Egypt from Saudi Arabia, killing 1,034 of the 1,400 people on board, in one of the deadliest disasters in modern maritime history.
An Egyptian appeals court in March this year found Mamdouh Ismail, the owner of the ferry, guilty of manslaughter and sentenced him, in absentia, to seven years in jail. Mr Ismail used his parliamentary immunity and fled to London.
Transport Minister Mohamed Mansour resigned in October over a train crash south of Cairo that killed 18 people. His post is still vacant.
Egypt's former transport minister, Ibrahim al Demeri, was forced to resign in February 2002 following the country's worst ever train fire, which claimed more than 370 lives as poor workers were travelling home to upper Egypt to celebrate Eid with their families.
nmagd@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Reuters
MATCH INFO
English Premiership semi-finals
Saracens 57
Wasps 33
Exeter Chiefs 36
Newcastle Falcons 5
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20S23%20ULTRA
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Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
NO OTHER LAND
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Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
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PRISCILLA
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Stars: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Henwick
Rating:****
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5.10pm: Continous
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7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
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Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
'Midnights'
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Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 194hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 275Nm from 2,000-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: from Dh155,000
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