Of Ships and the Red Sea

View of the Al Salam Manzoni 94 from Royal Yacht Club, Aqaba


Woke up at five today – had to catch a boat, the Sindbad, at Taba Marina to take us to Aqaba at 7 and then home to Amman in time for the world cup final – very pleasant trip, courtesy of Captain Tha'er and his company, until that is, the coastline of Aqaba came into view – blocked by a monstrous mound of rusty metal.



As you can see from this picture this dilapidated ship is none other than the sister ship of the Al Salam 98 - the Egyptian ferry that sank and drowned 1,033 people in the Red Sea on route to Safaga in Egypt in February 2006. And it only has ten life boats ....

What, you may ask, is it doing in the waters off the coast of Aqaba – an eye sore for everyone on shore? Apparently its owner, Mamdouh Ismail is on the run and yet some 'people' are talking about turning this ugly piece of junk into a hotel ship, permanently anchored in the waters off Aqaba.

All I can think is doesn't Aqaba have enough hotels – without another polluting our sea water? And why do we always take other peoples' rubbish – whether it's second hand cars, or reconditioned tyres - they are all an environmental hazard.

Ship, go home, back to wherever you came from – Egypt, Italy or Panama (country of registration and future abode of owner??). That ship should then be sold off for scrap metal and the monies raised should go to the survivors and families of the victims of that outrageous accident that should never have happened in the first place.

PS – did you know that ships get registered in Panama and raise the Panamanian flag to avoid less rigorous safety regulations in their own country … something I read off a Chinese website …!! J