Demands grow that the results of the investigation into the sinking of the ferry Al-Salam Boccaccio 98 be made public at the earliest possible date, reports Magda El-Ghitany Two weeks after the Al-Salam ferry sank in the Red Sea claiming the lives of over 1000 passengers investigations into the causes of the disaster have yet to be concluded. While waiting for the results of the investigations -- carried out by the general prosecution service and expected to be finished next week -- officials are now focusing on providing compensation to families of the victims and survivors. When rescue operations were halted last Friday 411 bodies had been recovered and 616 were still missing. Only 378 passengers survived the disaster. In response to mounting criticism from families of the victims President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday asked the cabinet to amend the Personal Status Law so relatives can receive death certificates and compensation more quickly. According to Presidential Spokesman Suleiman Awad the amendment will reduce the time it takes for missing persons to be recognised as dead from one year to 15 days. Death certificates can then be issued, entitling families to claim any relevant compensation. Mubarak had earlier announced that the government would provide the families of victims with LE30,000 and award LE15,000 to survivors. On Sunday Transport Minister Mohamed Lotfy Mansour said that an international investigation committee, including 12 international and Egyptian maritime experts, had been formed in accordance with maritime law. The committee is expected to submit a report on the circumstances surrounding the sinking of the ferry after the ship's black box has been recovered. Mansour added that a second international team will review the condition of all ferries operating in Egypt. The transport minister also promised that new domestic shipping inspection regulations would be introduced to ensure boats carried essential safety equipment. All ferries belonging to Al-Salam 98's mother company, Al-Salam Maritime Company, are currently grounded and undergoing safety checks. Meanwhile Mamdouh Ismail, Al-Salam Maritime's owner and a member of the Shura Council, voluntarily submitted to questioning by the Red Sea general prosecution. While the public, and not a few newspapers, were quick to pin overall responsibility for the disaster on Ismail, according to Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieddin Al-Salam Maritime is registered in Panama and Ismail "is only the managing director of the company's business in Cairo". But according to at least one international maritime expert, who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly on condition of anonymity, "even if Ismail is not technically the owner of the ferry... he is responsible for having allowed it to set sail without the necessary safety equipment on its board, with damaged water pumps and without carbon dioxide fire extinguishers." Following the disaster Panama has announced that it is reviewing inspection procedures for ships flying its flag. "This is an oversight procedure to find out whether these (inspection) companies are properly certifying ships, in order to improve the reputation of the [Panamanian] registry," said Fernando Solorzano, director of the Panamanian Maritime Commission Authority. That Ismail, as a Shura Council member, retains immunity from prosecution has sparked public outrage. "The least that could have been done was for the prosecutor-general to strip [Ismail] of his immunity, have his office inspected and company documents seized," daily Al-Masri Al-Yom columnist Magdi Mehanna told the Weekly. Mehanna criticised the way in which the crisis has been managed from the moment it began. "An independent committee should have been quickly formed to issue recommendations that the government could then have taken on board. Instead the government's response has been chaotic." This chaos, said Mehanna, was apparent in the way in which bereaved families "stayed in Safaga for three consecutive days waiting for a single official to come and talk to them about their relatives or about compensation". "No one showed up," he continued, "because officials were too busy taking care of the national football team." Public opinion, Mehanna said, can now only be calmed by the immediate release of the findings of the investigation. The government must do what it promised, he concluded, "and punish whoever is responsible for causing this disaster, making sure nobody is above the law".
