CAIRO: The Egyptian ferry that caught fire in the Red Sea earlier this week should have been decommissioned 13 years ago, officials from the Arab Bridge Maritime Company revealed. Billa Ferry was manufactured in 1983 and its lifespan should have ended in 1998. Under Egyptian law, any passenger ferry can be used for 15 years and commercial ships for 20 years, the official said. The remnants of the ferry are still in the Mediterranean Sea after it caught fire on Thursday. It is locked in Jordan's Gulf of Aqaba for investigation. In related news, foreign insurance companies will bear the cost of compensation to passengers resulting from goods lost on the ferry. Around 90 of the insurance companies involved are foreign, according to the Public Committee for Marine Insurance Unions head Abdel Hamid Hassan. Officials from the Arab Bridge Company were summoned for investigation about the fire on the ferry. Some of the passengers accused the officials of neglect. One Jordanian passenger died after jumping into the sea when the ferry caught fire and 12 Egyptians were injured.
