CAIRO: A capsized boat in Giza was pulled out of the river Thursday after a Wednesday collision with a scow causing at least 14 civilians to drown.
The Ministry of Interior stated that the boat carried 30 passengers. The total number of recovered passengers has yet not been confirmed. The Ministry of Health has confirmed 14 dead, with the Ministry of Interior reported 19 fatalities.
A boat turned over in the water after a scow crashed into it late on Wednesday; both the boat and the scow captains were blamed for the accident. The scow captain has been detained pending investigations on charges of manslaughter.
Samir Salama, the head of the River Transport Authority, told Youm7 that the boat has no license or legal papers to sail, while scows are not allowed to sail at night. “They both flouted river traffic rules,” Salama stated.
The scow captain said that he could not see the boat “because of the darkness;” he collided with the boat and heard screams afterwards. The crash reportedly caused the boat to break into half and sink.
According to testimonies of eyewitnesses and the scow captain, the accident took place around 10 p.m. Wednesday in Warraq district in Giza. The total number of the boat passengers has not been determined yet; reports stated that they were celebrating a wedding.
Some 10 recovered bodies have been identified, four of them were children.
All the injured were transferred to Nasser Institute and General Tahrir hospitals, while the recovered bodied were taken to the morgue.
The Ministry of Solidarity announced it would pay 20,000 EGP ($2,553) as compensation to the family of each victim in the boat collision.