MV Salem Express

1991

Red Sea, returning hajj pilgrims, four hundred and seventy Location: Red Sea, off Safaga, Egypt · Coordinates: 26.65°N 34.10°E · Casualties: ~470 · Survivors: ~180 · Depth: 30 m · Cause: grounding · storm — Struck Hyndman Reef in a storm off the Egyptian port of Safaga at 23:13 on 15 December 1991 while returning pilgrims from Jeddah after the hajj. The bow visor collapsed; water poured into the vehicle deck and she capsized in twenty minutes. The official toll was 470, though many believe the figure was significantly higher due to undocumented passengers. · Fate: war grave · protected · diveable · Type: roll-on/roll-off ferry · Tonnage: 4,771 tons · Crew: 72 · Flag: Egypt · Launched: 1966 Egyptian ro-ro ferry, returning hajj pilgrims from Jeddah to Safaga. Struck Hyndman Reef in a storm at 23:13 on 15 December 1991; the bow visor collapsed, water flooded the vehicle deck, and she capsized in twenty minutes. The official toll of 470 dead is widely believed to understate the true figure, since many of the aboard were undocumented returning pilgrims. The wreck is now a protected grave, diveable but with no human remains to be disturbed. The Vessel The MV Salem Express was an Egyptian passenger ferry of the Salem Maritime Company, built at the Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée yard at La Seyne, France between 1964 and 1965 and launched on 28 November 1964. She was 100 metres long, 4,771 gross tons, and powered by twin diesel engines producing approximately 6,000 horsepower. Her original passenger accommodation was approximately 780 passengers and approximately 120 road vehicles on her lower-deck vehicle bay. She was originally built as the MV Fred Scamaroni for the French Mediterranean ferry service (specifically the Marseilles-Corsica route); she was subsequently sold to various operators and was eventually purchased by the Egyptian Salem Maritime Company in 1988 and renamed Salem Express. Her post-1988 operational role was the Red Sea pilgrim and general passenger service between Saudi Arabia (specifically the port of Jeddah) and Egypt (specifically the port of Safaga), transporting Egyptian pilgrims to and from Mecca and general passenger traffic between the two countries. By 1991, the Salem Express had been operating on the Red Sea route for three years. Her specific operational pattern was the carrying of Egyptian Muslim pilgrims returning from the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which produced substantial operational pressure to transport large numbers of pilgrims efficiently between Saudi Arabia and Egypt during the specific pilgrimage seasons. Her master on her final voyage was Captain Hassan Khalil Moro, 55, an ex The Disaster The grounding damage to Salem Express was catastrophic. The specific hull penetration was substantial: the coral formation had opened multiple watertight compartments simultaneously; the specific flooding rate exceeded the ship's pump capacity by approximately 10-fold. The ship began to settle rapidly. The specific evacuation situation was catastrophic. The specific factors that prevented effective evacuation included: (i) the rapid sinking (the ship sank in approximately 20 minutes from initial grounding); (ii) the below-deck accommodation configuration (approximately 80 per cent of the passengers were in below-deck spaces); (iii) the specific language barrier (many pilgrims were illiterate or non-Arabic-speaking rural Egyptians who could not understand emergency instructions); (iv) the specific overloading of the ship (she was carrying approximately 10-15 per cent more passengers than her design capacity); and (v) the specific inadequate lifeboat provision (lifeboats had capacity for approximately 400 of the 650 aboard). The specific overloading issue was substantial. The Salem Express had been carrying approximately 650 persons against a design capacity of approximately 556 (as originally built for the French Mediterranean service). The specific additional passengers had been accommodated in crowded below-deck spaces with inadequate evacuation routes. MV Salem Express sank at approximately 23:55 on 14 December 1991 in approximately 20 metres of water in the Red Sea approxi