The Maadi Misdemeanor Court has postponed issuing a ruling in the Maadi boat accident case until 31 July. Boatman Ali Eweis,18, and his brother Mohamed, 28, were both charged with involuntary manslaughter. Nine girls died and three others were injured when a boat, operated by Ali Eweis, sank on 15 July. The defense requested that the case be referred back to the Public Prosecution, and that the Governor of Helwan and the trip's supervisor also be held responsible. The defense further blamed security forces for arriving at the scene of the accident one and a half hours following the crash. He claimed there were no rescue boats nearby at the time of the accident. According to the defense, river navigation laws stipulate that there should be rescue units installed every 300 meters. Because the rescue units were not in place, “rescuers were forced to resort to primitive methods of retrieving the boat from the water.” “Since the boatman is young, other officials should also be brought to trial,” the defense added. Prosecutor Ahmed Hozayyen said that the boat far exceeded its maximum capacity of six people on the day of the accident. He added that the boat is in decrepit condition and operated illegally with an expired license. Furthermore, the boat is not authorized to stop at gardens, according to Hozayyen, and carried no life vests, which are mandatory by law. The prosecution asked that Ali Eweis receive the maximum sentence. Ali Eweis admitted that he was steering the boat when it sank in the Nile. He added that “a group of girls, whose number I did not count, came on board and kept talking. They gathered on one side of the boat, causing it to sink.” The lawyer for the victims' families said that his clients are entitled to compensation according to the civil rights law. He suggested that greed on the part of the boatman and his brother was the cause of the crash. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
