By Nourhan Badawy
The Head of the Administrative Prosecution Authority (APA) referred seven officials affiliated to the River Transportation Authority (RTA) to a disciplinary trial on Wednesday regarding the El-Warraq Nile boat collision case.
In July, a cruise boat sank in the River Nile near El-Warraq after colliding with a barge, resulting in the deaths of approximately 40 people.
Commenting on the incident, APA spokesperson Mohamed Samir said: “This is shows the severe neglect by all those who are responsible of monitoring and inspecting river transport.”
An investigation of the boat prior to the incident, carried out by the Administrative River Inspection Authority and the police directorate of water bodies, was undertaken in July but did not catch that it did not have necessary licences or equipment.
The boat was using the fake navigating name of “Prince Hazem” with the number “988”, which were proven by investigations to not belong to the boat. According to the investigation, the name and number of the boat belong to another boat registered and licenced in Minya in April 2014.
The boat was, therefore, operating in El-Warraq without monitoring, despite the regulations set out by the General Authority for River Transportation and law 10/1956 regarding violating interior navigation. This was modified under law 57/1962 to stop at the nearest berth any boat that shows any violations.
The first defendant, a manager at the General Authority for River Transportation, neglected taking the legal procedures to inspect the transportation used on the El-Warraq side of the Nile. This neglect led to the accident because of a lack of safety and the fake licence.
Other defendants were accused of neglecting the area and for not taking any legal procedures despite the crew and the equipments being poor. The prosecution ordered for a copy of the case notes to be sent to the administration for inspecting and censorship at the Ministry of Interior.
