Fury after Egypt ferry disaster verdict

CAIRO (AFP) - Scuffles erupted at an Egyptian court on Sunday when five of six defendants were cleared of blame for a 2006 ferry sinking in which more than 1,000 people died, Egypt’s worst maritime disaster.
Hysterical relatives voiced anger as only Salaheddin Gomaa, captain of another ferry, the Saint Catherine, was jailed for six months for failing to come to the assistance of the Al-Salam Boccaccio 98, a judicial source said.
Public Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmud issued a statement after the court decision, saying he would appeal the ruling and called for a retrial.
The Al-Salam sank in the middle of the Red Sea on February 3, 2006 as it was carrying more than 1,400 people from Saudi Arabia to the Egyptian port of Safaga, where the trial was held.
“My brother, my brother,” one woman screamed after the verdict, according to footage shown on Al-Jazeera television which also showed security men scuffling with relatives and another woman being manhandled.
Dozens of relatives, many carrying photographs of their dead loved ones, crammed into the court building, although the heavy security presence prevented them from entering the courtroom itself. Others wailed in grief on the steps outside. “Allah help us, 1,034 people are dead!” shouted one man. The court found that Gomaa had failed to show “compassion” and “did not do his duty by failing to go to the rescue of victims.”