Joy turned into tragedy when a river launch crashed into waiting passengers, reports Mohamed El-Sayed Villagers on their way to visit the cemeteries, as part of Eid Al-Fitr (Lesser Bairam) tradition, did not know that some of them will soon catch up with their departed loved ones. More than 100 residents of Beni Hassan village, in the southern governorate of Minya, were crowding a gangplank while waiting to cross the River Nile using a launch. But the speeding vessel crashed into them, causing an estimated 13 to drown and injuring six. A desperate search by divers ensued to retrieve bodies during daylight, but only succeeded in finding eight bodies -- five remain missing. Nonetheless, eyewitnesses blamed the rescue teams for the high death toll because they used ropes instead of ring buoys in the rescue operation. But the blame game has only just begun. Villagers attributed the accident to a severe shortage in the number of available Nile-crossing vessels, and blamed bad equipment and lack of safety measures on the wharf. According to local officials, some 50,000 passengers used the dock during Eid -- a figure which far exceeds its capacity. For their part, local authorities in Beni Hassan said the accident was caused by the misconduct of passengers while boarding and disembarking from the launch. "A large crowd pushed each other, causing the collapse of the gangplank," Mohamed El-Amin, head of the Beni Hassan Local Council, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The main reason behind the accident is that the vessel crashed into a wharf packed with people." Tareq Galal, head of the Abu Qurqas Prosecution, agreed. Galal told the Weekly that, "the main cause was that there was a stampede onto the gangplank as passengers attempted to board the launch." Meanwhile, the launch is also to blame because it should dock on the riverbank, not the wharf -- usually only used by ferries. "That too is the main reason behind the accident," Galal pointed out. Governor of Minya Fouad Saadeddin attributed the high death toll to a strong water current which pulled away many drowning passengers. "The current was too strong, so bodies could have drifted away from the site of the accident," Saadeddin explained. "Too many people were on the gangplank, raising the number of victims." As expected, and in order to quiet public anger, local authorities were quick to announce the allocation of LE1 million to rebuild the dock. Saadeddin further announced that the family of each dead victim will receive LE7,000 in compensation, while injured passengers would receive LE1,000. President Hosni Mubarak is reported to have called Saadeddin twice in the wake of the tragedy, ordering him to offer assistance to the afflicted families. Initial reports by international media apparently overestimated the number of deaths, conjuring up memories of the worst marine transportation accident of Al-Salam ferry which sank into the Red Sea in February, 2006, claiming the lives of more than 1,000 passengers.
