CAIRO: Egyptian authorities have banned the wife of the owner of the ferry that sank in the Red Sea, killing about 1,000 people, from leaving the country, an official at Cairo airport said on Friday. Sausan Abdul Aziz was turned away at the airport as she tried to board a flight to Britain, the official added. He said Abdul Aziz showed up at the airport apparently unaware of an order banning her from travel. She had planned to fly to London to join her husband, Mamduh Ismail. Ismail, an MP, left Egypt despite an investigation into the sinking in February of the Al-Salam Boccacio 98, his 36-year-old ship. The ship was sailing from the Saudi port of Duba and carried mostly Egyptian itinerant workers, some of whom were bringing months if not years worth of savings back home. In mid-March, parliament lifted Ismail s immunity so he can be questioned in connection with the disaster. Ismail told the public prosecutor before his departure that he had no responsibility in the case. AFP
Egypt bans wife of ferry owner from travel
