Today’s featured wreck is the Al Salam Boccaccio 98. A 6,450 GRT Roll On/Roll Off (RO/RO) PAX/Ferry originally known as Boccaccio.
In 2005, the Al Salam Boccaccio 98 arrived in the Red Sea where she provided ferry service between Duba, Saudi Arabia and Safaga, Egypt.
Shortly after departing Duba on 2nd February 2006, survivor accounts indicated that a fire broke out either in the engine room or a storage area below decks. As the ship’s crew fought the fire, the fire-fighting water may have accumulated in the lower parts of the ship, including the car deck area. Some survivor accounts indicate that the ship had a list on it shortly after leaving port and, after several hours the list gradually became more pronounced. At no time did the ship send an SOS signal indicating that it was in trouble.
The ship’s captain, Captain Sayed Ahmed Sayed Omar, had attempted to effect a 180-degree turn between 60 and 80-kilometers from the ship’s intended destination of Safaga. The ship capsized during the turn and sank in less than 10 minutes in over 900-meters of water
It would be almost 12-hours before any rescue attempt would get underway! According to Mohamed Gad-EL-Hak, in his book “Large Scale Disaster“: Many officials failed to react promptly because an “important” soccer game was being televised”.
Of the over 1,400 passengers and crew onboard, almost 400 were reported rescued. The number of bodies recovered was reported on 03 February 2006 as being 185. Information concerning additional recovery of bodies is vague after this date.
Learn more at: http://www.redseawreckproject.com/red-sea-shipwreck-database/a/al-salam-boccaccio-98/
