Of 1,300 people aboard, 180 escape on lifeboats, and so far, only 203 survivors. In 2006, it seems unfathomable that a disaster of this magnitude could occur.
An Egyptian ferry carrying about 1,300 people sank in the Red Sea early Friday during bad weather, and rescue ships and helicopters pulled dozens of survivors and bodies from the water. Some 180 escaped on lifeboats, an official said.
Most of the passengers were Egyptian workers returning from their jobs in Saudi Arabia. At least four Saudi and four Egyptian ships were involved in the search effort, arriving about 10 hours after the 35- year-old ferry was believed to have sank.
The boat disappeared from radar screens around 5 PM EST on Thursday. Some are blaming weather conditions, while others speculate that some kind of emergency occurred on board, perhaps a fire, and that it incapacitated the ship before there was time to evacuate its passengers.
Ferries have to be among the deadliest forms of mass transportation. I’ve keep a list of known sinkings for a couple of years here
http://jim.kearman.com/ferry/index.html
It lists only sinkings, not mere accidents, like the Staten Island ferry crash of a few years ago.
Jim