CAIRO: Two men, one captain and one first officer were arrested by Egyptian Authorities after their fishing vessel collided with Egyptian containership which took the lives of 15 so far.
According to the prosecutor, the fishing boat capsized after the collision which took place on Monday.
GulfShip News cites sources claiming that the box ship involved are the Kuwait-flagged 6,900-teu Al Safat (built 2008).
The containership – owned by United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) – was moored at the port of Safaga, where local authorities conducted investigations on the matter.
UASC said in a statement to TradeWinds: “It has been reported that one of UASC’s (MV. Al Safat) container vessels may have collided with an Egyptian fishing vessel in the Red Sea on Sunday December 14th. Our team is currently cooperating with the Egyptian authorities who are investigating the matter.”
Vessel tracking websites have not received any data of the vessel’s position since last Friday.
Local media report that rescue teams retrieved four more bodies on Tuesday while many fishermen are still missing.
There were at least 40 fishermen on board at the time of the collision.
Egypt’s minister of social solidarity granted the families of those killed a compensation of EGP 10,000 ($1,400).
