An Egyptian passenger ship bringing some 1500 Muslim pilgrims back from Saudi Arabia has collided with a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Suez, killing one and injuring 20. There was a stampede among panicked passengers and it killed one person, officials and state-run media said. Another 40 people were injured in the stampede to flee the ship, which was struck by the Cypriot-registered Jebal Ali at 7.30pm near Port Tawfiq, about 130km east of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, port and police officials said. Twenty launches went to the scene of the collision and helped to save 1443 passengers from the damaged ship, said a security source in the Egyptian town of Suez. The passenger ship has since sunk. "We concentrated on saving lives. The boat that carried people has sunk now. Thank God that we moved all the people from there," Transport Minister Essam Sharaf said.
The passenger ship, the Al Salam 95, which is owned by the Egyptian company el-Salam Maritime Transport, was en route from the Saudi port of Jidda on Monday after the passengers performed the umra, or lesser pilgrimage in Makka. The company's web site says the vessel has a gross tonnage of 5857 tonnes and room for 2221 passengers.