Cruise ship with 1,415 people sinks

Cairo: An Egyptian cruise ship, 'Al Salaam Boccacio 98', with 1,415 people on board has sunk in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast, Egyptian maritime officials said on Friday.

Helicopters have spotted bodies floating on the sea but the number of dead is not yet known.

The ferry left Dubah in Western Saudi Arabia, en route to Egypt's southern port of Safaga.

Some 100 km from Dubah at approximately midnight Egypt time the ship encountered rough weather.

The ferry, carrying over 1,310 passengers and a crew of 104 sank soon after.

Helicopters have spotted bodies floating on the sea and a few lifeboat in the vicinity of where the ship was last seen on the radar screens.

An official said that 15 bodies and 12 survivors have already been recovered. He added the search was being hampered by bad weather.

Egypt has sent four figates while UK has diverted one of its warship from the Persian Gulf to the site where the ship sank.

"A helicopter has spotted lifeboats with people on board," said Red Sea port authority chief Mahfuz Taha. "The ship sank 57 miles off Hurghada."

Saudi and Egyptian naval vessels and helicopters were searching for the survivors from the ship, which disappeared from radar screens shortly after sailing from the port of Dubah, western Saudi Arabia, at 1700 hrs GMT local time on Thursday night, the maritime officials in Suez said.

The ship was to have arrived at Egypt's southern port of Safaga at 0100 hrs GMT local time, the officials added but sank 40 miles off the port of Hurghada.

"We lost all contact with the ship shortly after it left the Saudi port," said one maritime official at Suez. Its last position on the radar screens was 62 miles from Dubah.

The ship is owned the Egyptian company El-Salaam Maritime Transport Co and was carrying 1,415 passengers, the official added.

Some of the passengers are believed to be pilgrims returning from the annual Haj to Mecca, which ended last month.

Maritime sources said at least 1,310 Egyptians were on board, as well as around 100 people from other countries, including Sudanese and Saudi nationals.

Among the passengers were pilgrims returning from the annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca, they said.

Transport Minister Mohammed Mansur told Egyptian public television that 104 crew members were onboard and added that coordination with Saudi rescuers was under way.

A ship owned by the same Al-Salam company collided with a cargo ship near the entrance of the Suez canal in October, causing a stampede that left two dead and up to 100 wounded.

Most of the passengers were also pilgrims returning from Mecca.

An inquiry into the accident blamed the driver for violating the rules governing transit through the Suez canal.

Red Sea Governor Bakr al-Rashidi announced that an operations room had been set up in Safaga and a state of emergency was declared in the area's hospitals.

The popular holiday area was already hit by tragedy on January 31 when a bus carrying Hong Kong tourists overturned between Hurghada and Safaga, leaving 14 dead and 30 wounded.

Close to 500 people had perished when another Salam Express ferry boat sunk in the Red Sea in 1991.

A probe had said the accident was caused by a navigation error on the part of the captain.