13 fishermen killed, 14 missing after boat crash in Egypt

Egyptian authorities will issue 5,000 Egyptian pounds worth of compensation for each of the families of those who died in a sunken boat in the Red Sea on Sunday, the governor of Daqahliyah said.

A fishing boat crashed into a trade ship in the Red Sea early Sunday, killing 13 fishermen. The boat, ‘Badr al-Islam’, was carrying 40 Egyptian fishermen and sailing in the Gabal al-Zayt region.

Daqahliyah Governor Omar al-Shawadfi added that those injured, so far 13, will be compensated with 2,000 Egyptian pounds each, reported state-run news agency MENA.

Egypt’s armed forces sent a military plane to South Sinai to look for the missing fishermen, a military source said.

Al-Araby al-Sarawy, the governor of Suez, told Aswat Masriya that the naval forces and the border guards were collaborating in search for the missing fishermen.

The General Authority for the Red Sea Ports announced the confiscation of the trade ship which caused the accident.

Authority Spokesman Abdel Rehim Mostafa said the ship was carrying 220 tonnes of cargo.

Around 1000 people died in the Red Sea in February 2006 when a ferry sailing from Saudi Arabia caught fire, going down in history as one of Egypt’s worst sea accidents.