CAIRO: Ahmed El Sayed Fathallah, crew member and survivor of Al-Salam ferry, testified in Safaga Misdemeanor Court on Sunday, supporting the company's position in the case and clearing the concerned authorities from responsibility. Fathallah said that the captain of the Al-Salam 98 ferry that sank in the Red Sea in February 2006 did not send a signal to indicate that the ferry was sinking to any authority, adding that the captain went down with the ferry as it sank. Initial reports indicated that the captain, contrary to recognized maritime procedures, had abandoned the ferry as it was sinking. The news, reported by Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, indicated that the court session featured low attendance from the victims relatives who were upset over the crew member s testimony that lifted the blame off of the company and the Red Sea Shores Authorities. Al-Masry Al-Youm s article mentioned that the victims lawyer has increased the amount of compensation from LE 2,001 to LE 5,001 and asked that the case be postponed until investigations reveal the exact location of the owner of Al-Salam ferry company, Mamdouh Ismail. Hafez Abou Saada, director of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), who is personally interested in the case and is following its updates told Daily News Egypt that the government is making hast so that the case doesn't get much public attention through the media. Abou Saada also commented that the suspects are charged with negligence and killing without the intention of murder, and not first degree murder. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release that was published on the ministry s official website on Monday that named the seven people who are on trial accused of being responsible for the sinking of Al-Salam 98 ferry. According to the press release, three people are to be trialed in absentia; the owner of the ferry, Ismail, his son Amr, and Manager of Al-Salam Ferries, Mamdouh Abdel Kader. The other five people are the Captain of the St. Catherine Ferry, Salah Mohamed Gomaa, who was sailing in the same area the Al-Salam 98 ferry sank and is accused of failing to help rescue the ferry s passengers, and the branch manager of Al-Salam Ferries in Safaga, Nabil El-Sayed Shalabi - both to stand trial today - as well as Mamdouh Orabi and Omar Abu Taleb, executives in Ismail's Al-Salam Ferries company. The sinking of Al-Salam 98 ferry- that resulted in the death of more than 1,000 passengers - garnered much attention in the People s Assembly (PA). Last May, Al-Wafd party requested a withdrawal of confidence from the government after the investigations committee of the People s Assembly (PA) implicated the government in the ferry disaster. The National Democratic Party (NDP) MPs voted against Al-Wafd party's request. Not a single opposition voice voted against the withdrawal of confidence. All of the opposition parties voted for it, Sobhy Saleh, PA member affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood told Daily News Egypt in a previous interview. However, NDP MP Mohamed Khalil Kwaitah, who supported Al-Wafd party s request to withdraw confidence from the government, told Daily News Egypt that he finds the government responsible for the crisis. Kwaitah praised the investigations committee report and blames both the government and Ismail for the crisis. A few days before the NDP voted against Al-Wafd party's request, the PA s investigations committee filed its final report on the Al-Salam 98 ferry. The report found the Ministry of Transport, the Marine Safety Institution, the Egyptian Rescue Unit and Ismail guilty. The report was presented to the PA Speaker Fathy Surour, to be discussed in the next parliamentary session, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. According to Al Ahram Weekly newspaper, a Cairo court had previously indicated that Ismail had handed out compensation of LE 300,000 to the families of the dead or missing, and another LE 50,000 to the survivors of the tragic event to deter them from filing a lawsuit against him.
