The drowning of seven girls while on a church outing has again raised questions about transport safety, reports Reem Leila "Don't worry, nothing will happen. Everything is under control." That, says 13-year-old Mariam Nagui, is what boatman Ali Eweis told her when, in panic, she pointed out that his boat was letting in water. Minutes later at least seven of the boat's 20 passengers were drowned. Marina Ashraf, 13, is one of 11 survivors of the accident, which took place on the Nile, south of Cairo, in the Maadi district on 15 July. She told Al-Ahram Weekly that the 20 girls were on a trip organised by the Omraniya district church and had set out to visit the church of Tora in Helwan. "Water began to leak into the boat just three metres away from the bank. The boatman jumped off the boat, leaving us crying for help. He didn't even think of helping us. My friends were drowning. I couldn't help any of them as I can hardly swim. I don't know who helped me to the bank," says Ashraf. Adel Amer, head of Maritime Police, told the Weekly that the licence for the boat which sank expired two years previously. "Even when it was licensed the boat had a maximum capacity of six passengers plus the boatman. The vessel was in very poor condition and had been overloaded," he said. Rescue units are conducting an extensive search for the missing bodies, combing sections of the river up to a depth of 20 metres. Two bodies were found on 17 July, one underneath the university bridge in Giza, the other at Al-Qanater Al-Kairiya. Two remain missing. Eweis, who has been arrested, is likely to face charges of causing injury through negligence and operating an unlicensed craft. Most boats, says Amer, charge fares of between 50 piastres and LE2.5. "They overload the boats in order to make more money, making accidents more likely, especially in the absence of supervision. It is impossible for the river police to monitor every single boat on the Nile." Bishop Theodosius of Giza blames officials from Helwan governorate for the accident. "All unlicenced boats and boats in poor condition should be banned from operating on the River Nile," he says. Theodosius denies that the church has any responsibility for the accident. "The boatman refused to split the girls into two boats. He was the one in charge, and ultimately the one responsible. One of the supervisors, who drowned in the accident, tried to convince him that he was overloading the boat but he refused to listen," said Theodosius. Church officials helped take the injured to hospital, and have provided financial aid to the victims' families. Now, says Theodosius, the church will support the families of the victims in the aftermath of the tragedy. A series of road, rail and accidents involving boats, has left the public concerned over the government's handling of transport safety. In December 2009 two Nile ferries collided near Rosetta on the River Nile, injuring six passengers. In October 2009 a train collision south of Cairo left 18 people dead. Egypt's worst maritime accident was in February 2006 when the Al-Salam ferry sank in the Red Sea. It was carrying 1,400 passengers, of whom 1,034 drowned.
