The latest report into the sinking of Al-Salam 98 confirms gross negligence on the part of the ferry's owners, writes Mohamed El-Sayed "Captain, the ferry is sinking," shouts an officer. "Hurry, fetch me a lifejacket and send an SOS," responds the captain. So ends the final conversation recorded on the black box of the Al-Salam 98 ferry, before the boat disappeared beneath the waters of the Red Sea on 3 February, as revealed this week in the report on the disaster prepared by an international technical committee. The committee, formed by the Ministry of Transport to investigate the cause of the tragedy, concluded that Al-Salam Company for Marine Transportation, and its owner and operator Mamdouh Ismail, were ultimately responsible for the disaster in which 1,033 passengers lost their lives. Mohamed Shama, head of the committee, said the events leading up to the sinking had been "complicated". The black box recordings reveal that the crew member responsible for supervising the vehicle deck, where the initial fire broke out among the parked lorries and cars, was absent from his duty site and as a result the captain was informed about the fire only when it had already taken hold. Subsequently, the crew used too much water in an attempt to extinguish the fire, causing the vessel to list to the right. It sank soon afterwards. The committee says the company failed to inform the authorities about the deteriorating situation, and did not enforce statutory precautionary and safety measures. Many of the lifeboats, despite being unused, were not seaworthy. Al-Salam's owners, the report continued, did not send rescue teams to the site of the tragedy to help in relief efforts and the Saint Catherine ferry, Al-Salam 98's sister ship, which was in the vicinity of the disaster, ignored distress signals sent by the drowning ferry. The report also revealed that the Al-Salam 98's marine certificate, which the company concealed, prohibited it from undertaking journeys of more than 20 nautical miles. But will the report affect the course of case filed against the company and its owner, who fled to London in the aftermath of the tragedy? "We are not entitled to indict [the owner of the ferry], but the ministry will submit copies of the report to the prosecutor-general, the People's Assembly and the cabinet," said Minister of Transportation Mohamed Lotfi Mansour. "I vowed to get to the bottom of this tragedy four months ago and now we have the report." The international technical committee's report confirms the findings of two earlier investigations, conducted by the People's Assembly and the prosecutor-general, both of which accused Ismail of gross negligence, and of overloading the boat with too many passengers. A third report -- prepared by the cabinet -- appeared to water down the findings, blaming the accident on a variety of factors, including "fate". While the latest investigation placed the blame for the tragedy squarely on Ismail's shoulders, an earlier decision by the prosecution banning Ismail and his family from travelling and freezing their assets was dropped. The Court of Qiyam noted that Ismail has already paid LE300,000 to the families of the dead or missing, and LE50,000 to each survivor. In exchange for the compensation, the victims waived their right to bring a civil case against Ismail.
