passengers. In 1991 another Egyptian ferry, Salem Express, sank off the coast of Egypt after hitting a small habili reef. 464 Egyptians lost their lives. The bodies were recovered and buried on land, as Islam forbids burial at sea. In 1994, the MS Estonia sank, claiming 852 lives. On 26 September 2002 the MV Le Joola, a Senegalese government-owned ferry, capsized off the coast of Gambia killing at least 1,863 people. On 17 October 2005, Pride of al Salam 95 also sank in the Red Sea after being struck by the Cypriot-registered cargo ship Jebal Ali. In that accident, two people were killed and another 40 injured, some possibly during a stampede to leave the sinking ship. After evacuating all the ferry passengers and crew, Jebal Ali went astern and Pride of al Salam 95 sank in about 3½ minutes. Trial of owners In July 2008 the owner of al-Salam Boccaccio 98, Mamdouh Ismail, along with his son Amr Ismail and two others were acquitted of wrongdoing in connection with the disaster by an Egyptian court. An earlier parliamentary inquiry blamed Ismail's company for the disaster, saying they had operated the ferry despite serious defects. Also, the recovered data recorder proved that the ferry's owner knew there had been a fire on board but gave orders to continue on instead of returning to port as the captain had requested. Family members of the victims felt the ruling was brought about by corruption as Ismail is a member of Egypt's upper house and is very well connected. On 11 March 2009, after the initial acquittal was overturned in a hearing presided over by Judge Khaled Badereldin, Mamdouh Ismail was sentenced to seven years in prison. Two other employees of the company were sentenced to three years in prison each. In May 2020, The Court of Justice of the European Union judged that The victims of the sinking of a vessel, which sailed under the flag of Panama, may bring an action for damages before the Italian courts against the Italian organisations which classified and certified that vessel, i.e. the Italian Classification Society RINA (Registro Italiano Navale References External links Boccaccio (1971) vessel information "Egyptian ferry sinks in Red Sea " at BBC News "Hunt for survivors as crowded Egyptian ferry sinks" at Times Online "Passenger ferry sinks in Red Sea" at CNN al-Salam homepage "You can also visit the official website