Egyptian Court Acquits Owner of Sunk Ferry that Killed 1,000
The owner of the Al-Salam Boccaccio 98 acquitted of manslaughter.
The ferry's owner, Mamdouh Ismail, a member of Egypt's Upper House of Parliament at the time of the disaster, and his son, were tried in absentia after fleeing to the UK after the disaster.
The Al Salam Boccaccio 98 ferry caught fire and sank en route to Egypt from Saudi Arabia in February 2006, claiming the lives of 1,034 of the roughly 1,400 people on board.
Ismail was accused of failing to contact authorities when he had learned of the fire breaking out on the ships. But he claimed no one from the crew contacted him. And, Egyptian authorities say they did not learn of the disaster for many hours after the fire broke out and, therefore charged Ismail with manslaughter.
Egyptian government sought to deflect the criticism and opened a parliamentary inquiry, which immediately lifted Ismail's parliamentary immunity and ordered him to pay $57 million in compensation to victims' families. In fact, Ismail did pay approximately $57 million to a compensation fund for the victims of the disaster. After doing so, the Egyptian government lifted a ban on his assets and allowed his family to travel without restrictions.
Investigators charged Ismail for serious safety violations including forged safety certificates on the ferry, the life rafts and fire extinguishers that were unfit for use, and the ship did not have enough winches to lower rafts into the sea.
In 2006 a committee investigating the sinking also widened the blame to include the state of Panama, under whose flag the boat was sailing.
A parliamentary report on the disaster blamed Ismail for serious violations of safety regulations.
It said the ferry had forged safety certificates, the life rafts and fire extinguishers were unfit for use and the ship did not have enough winches to lower rafts into the sea. The state of Panama who registered the ferry was also indicted is the lawsuit.
The families of the victims have accused the government of masterminding the exoneration because Ismail is an influential figure in the ruling National Democratic Party as well as being well connected to many high ranking politicians.
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