Sarah Loat
A Nile-cruise boat sank in Aswan on Tuesday, after it hit rocks in the Nile in the area between Aswan and Kom Ombo. Few injuries and no deaths resulted from the accident.
The Tag El-Nile boat carried 120 Egyptian passengers and no foreigners, according to Ezzat El-Bess, spokesperson for the union of touristic bazaars in Aswan.
El-Bess said the boat was heading towards Luxor when winds blew it into a group of rocks in the El-Khatara region of the Nile, located between Aswan and Kom Ombo. The rocks punctured the boat, allowing water to leak in and causing it to sink. “Tag El-Nile is an old boat, that’s why it was easily punctured,” El-Bess explained.
Ahmed Omar, spokesperson at the Ministry of Health, said rescue forces were able to save all the passengers onboard the boat, adding that no deaths resulted from the accident.
Omar mentioned that 5 passengers were slightly injured, 4 were treated at the site of the accident, while one was transferred to Aswan educational hospital.
The rescued passengers were transferred to Basma Hotel, and their return trip to Cairo was postponed.
El-Bess said the accident should not affect the tourism activity in Aswan and Upper Egypt, describing the current status of tourism in Egypt as “miserable enough”.
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