At least 14 were killed and four injured when a barge collided with a cruise boat on a short trip along the Nile, sinking it in the area of Warraq in Giza, the Ministry of Health announced Wednesday. Two more bodies were retrieved Thursday morning.
“Rescue efforts are still ongoing, but there would be no more injuries of course,” spokesperson Hossam Abdul Ghaffar told Daily News Egypt.
Around 11 pm Wednesday, security officials announced that a barge had collided with a boat carrying nearly 30 people on a river cruise, which resulted in the drowning of most passengers. A security official from the Ministry of Interior said the barge did not have its lights on, and was breaching a law forbidding them from travelling after 5 pm.
The captain and three crew members of the barge were arrested shortly after, and North Giza prosecution authorities ordered their detention for four days pending investigations, according to state-run media MENA. They face charges of manslaughter.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior said the death toll was 15 but is yet to provide more details, amid crowds gathered at the scene of the accident.