Around 80 missing in Nile ferry accident: governor

Updated at: 0803 PST, Saturday, December 05, 2009
CAIRO: Around 20 Egyptians were listed as missing after two passenger ferries collided in the Nile Delta north of the Egyptian capital on Friday, a provincial governor said.One ferry had between 25 and 30 passengers on board while the other was carrying no passengers, in the collision near the city of Rosetta, said Ahmed Zaki Abdeen, governor of Kafr el-Sheikh province where the accident occurred."Six people are injured, 13 have escaped unharmed, and we are still looking for the rest," Abdeen told Egyptian television, adding that the boat with the passengers had sunk after being struck from the rear."We think there are about 20 people missing," he said. "So far no dead bodies have been recovered."The cause of the accident which took place at around 5:30 pm (1530 GMT) was still unclear, police said."A search is ongoing for the missing people," the governor of nearby Beheira province, Mohammed Shaarawy, told the television.He told the state news agency that only between six and eight people were still missing.Witnesses told media that the boat, supposed to carry 25 to 30 people, was in fact carrying up to 60.Transport accidents are frequent in Egypt due to poor maintenance and negligence.