Ferry Carrying 1300 Disappears

[cali]

It seems very little is known. There are, evidently, a few survivors. I just heard that the ship was not overcrowded and that there may have been ligthtening storms in the area.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=263219&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. BBC has this as well.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4676916.stm

The talkback section is getting interesting.

[bklyncowgirl]

2. I'm no nautical expert but that thing looks pretty topheavy to me

According to CNN the ship was an old Italian ferry that had been sold to an Egyptian company after safety standards in the developed world were upgraded following an accident.

"David Osler, of Lloyd's List, told CNN while it was too early to speculate on the cause of the ship's disappearance, the vessel was a roll-on roll-off ferry -- a design known to suffer stability problems.

"Once a small amount of water gets on board it can set up an uncontrollable rocking that causes rapid capsize," he said.

He said safety standards in the developed world had improved markedly in the after the Pride of Free Enterprise sank at Zeebruge, Belgium, in 1987, killing 193 passengers.

"This vessel was pensioned off from Italy. It may have been overloaded," he said. "

Here's a picture and the full story on CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/03/egypt.ship/index.html

[A Simple Game]

7. I am no expert either, and I didn't sleep very well last night, but

it certainly does look top heavy.

It was the first thing I noticed when I saw the picture.

[lectrobyte]

3. Katie Couric already called it as terrorism.

[Cobalt Violet]

4. Quick! Tap my phone. Read my emails.

Install a chip in me and a video camera in my home. The terrorists are coming. The terrorists are coming.

[Cooley Hurd]

5. Possible that it's terrorism, but there was heavy weather on the Red Sea..

...at the time of the disappearance.

That said, Katie's a neocon kook and probably sees terrorism when she breaks a nail...

[Thtwudbeme]

6. Boy, she has really gone down the tubes

what an idiot

[WahooJunkie]

8. Please tell me you're joking n/t

[lectrobyte]

9. Perhaps "called it" was a bit inaccurate, but she was interviewing

some sea travel expert guest, and kept asking him stuff like "Could it be terrorism? It's a very volatile region" etc. while the poor guy was trying to explain about how these ferry ships could be subject to capsizing etc. In other words: Be afraid! Boonga Boonga! Death by Boonga Boonga!