CAIRO: Al Mahmouda Misdemeanors Court extended the detention period of the drivers and owners of the two ferries that collided near Rashid city last Friday for 15 days, MENA, the official news agency reported. The two owners and two drivers of the ferries are facing charges including unintentionally causing injury, failure to follow regulations and operating an unlicensed means of transportation. Last Friday, two Nile ferries collided near Rashid city in the governorate of Beheira. One of the ferries was a passenger ferry that broke apart on collision, while the other, carrying both passengers and cars, overturned causing no injuries or fatalities, according to Reuters. Public river ferries in Egypt can sometimes be crowded and the number of passengers is not always recorded, making an accurate count of those involved or missing difficult. Early reports after the crash said that several dozen passengers and crew members may have been missing, but the exact number of people on board the vessels was unclear. "Rescue units called off the search after they searched an area of 2 km in the Nile, where no bodies were found, Governor of Beheira Mohamed Shaarawy told MENA. Shaarawy also said no claims for missing people were filed since the accident, suggesting that all passengers had been accounted for. There were reportedly 13 people injured, six of whom were hospitalized. The governorate of Beheira is set to pay each injured passenger a financial compensation of LE 2,000. On the other hand, several independent and opposition media were skeptical of the statements made by authorities regarding the number of those injured and missing, and cast doubt on the accuracy of the number of people initially on board the two ferries.
