Death toll in Egypt boat capsize rises to 29

Cairo, Jul 24: With the recovery of 11 more bodies from a sunken ferry in the Nile River in Egypt, the overall death toll in the tragedy on Friday rose to 29, the government said.

Following the collision between the ferry and a cargo boat on Wednesday night, the passenger boat sustained damage, causing it to sink in the river.

Eleven more bodies have been recovered taking the overall death toll to 29, Al Ahram reported. Authorities put the figure at 21 yesterday, while the health ministry's official toll stood at 18, according to ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar.

But the ministry said that 11 more bodies had been retrieved from the river as the search for the victims continued for a third day.

A provincial prosecutor told Al-Ahram Arabic that 35 passengers were estimated to have been on board a chartered boat when it collided with a cargo ship near Al-Warraq district in Giza, causing it to capsize.

The interior ministry said six of the passengers had been rescued. Locals angered by the deaths and families of those still missing blocked off a main road in the area where the boat sank and chanted anti-government slogans.

The skipper of the cargo ship has been arrested and ordered to be detained pending probe into the incident. Boat accidents are not uncommon on the Nile or off Egypt's coast.

They are often blamed on rickety crafts or loose enforcement of the law. Last year, six people including a child were killed when their chartered boat collided with a bridge structure near downtown Cairo.

The country's deadliest boat accident occurred in February 2006 when a ferry sank in the Red Sea, killing more than 1,000 people.

PTI