27 Dec. 2001 - 2 Jan. 2002
Issue No.566
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 27 Dec. 2001 - 2 Jan. 2002 Issue No.566 |
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The roots of tragedy
The Ministry of Tourism is soon expected to serve judgement on the company accused of being responsible for the tragic bus accident in which 52 Egyptian pilgrims died. Mona El-Nahhas reports
There's a palpable sorrow in the streets and alleyways of Imbaba these days. Nearly all the victims of the Aqaba bus accident on 14 December were residents of the Cairo suburb. Imbaba spent Eid- Al-Fitr in mourning. The accident took place just two days before the festival. Amid tears and anger, relatives of the 52 pilgrims who died in the bus accident in Aqaba after performing the Umra pilgrimage vowed revenge.
Coffins of some of the 52 pilgrims who were killed in 14 December's tragic bus accident (right); a grieving relative awaits the deceased (left). Now, grief is turning into a desire for justice as attention turns to the operator of the ill-fated Umra pilgrimage bus
The victims' relatives blamed the Golden Bird tourist company which organised the pilgrimage trip for the tragedy, and called upon officials to take severe measures against the company which they accused of shameless opportunism and negligence. The relatives told Al-Ahram Weekly that the company should pay the price for what they see as a crime committed against innocent people. "But in any case, we will wait for the official response before taking any legal measures against the company and the Ministry of Tourism", said Essam Al-Sayed, son of Hajja Fawzeya who died in the accident.
The Ministry of Tourism has now completed its investigation of Golden Bird and will soon decide what punitive measures will be taken against the company. According to Hassan Gamaleddin, first under-secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, the company committed several administrative violations. "First, the bus used in the trip had not been subject to a technical check-up by the ministry," he said. In addition, the company failed to provide a delegate to accompany the pilgrims in the trip. "And finally, the company which owned the bus rented it to the travel company without informing the ministry," he said.
The government also put in place a host of measures to try and avoid similar accidents in the future. Minister of Tourism Mamdouh El-Beltagui ordered that tourist buses now be subject to a thorough electronic check-up starting from next January. There will also be a representative from the ministry stationed at Nuweiba port, to make sure that the bus used in any trip has a licence from the ministry. Lastly, every bus must be driven by at least two drivers who will work in shifts.
The accident took place on the 14 December when the bus, loaded with the pilgrims and their driver, was on its way home. It was travelling at speed towards the port of Aqaba after crossing the border with Saudi Arabia. The driver lost control because of a brake failure and the bus veered off the highway and into five containers plugged into electric cables in the terminal outside Aqaba port. The vehicle caught fire, and all 52 pilgrims and the driver were engulfed by flames. There were no survivors.
Hoda Mohamed, daughter-in-law of Hajja Fatma, told the Weekly that the company was unreliable from the very beginning. "The scheduled date for the Umra was postponed three times, without informing the pilgrims. Each time, they arrived at the company's headquarters only to find that the date had been changed at the last moment," she said. "After charging each pilgrim LE1250, the company asked each one of them to pay an additional LE250. They threatened to cancel the journey if they were not paid. The pilgrims, who were looking forward to the Umra, had no alternative but to pay."
Fouad Shehab, son of victim Haj Ahmed, said that the pilgrims were surprised at the last moment when the journey, which had originally meant to be by sea, was switched to an overland trip from Nuweiba to Aqaba. "Later on, we came to know that the company sold the pilgrims' ferry tickets on the black market in order to gain more profit," Shehab said. He added that the buses, which picked up the pilgrims from their homes for the ill-fated journey, were in very bad technical condition. "The buses were a very old model without any air-conditioning nor a WC. The company pulled the wool over the pilgrims' eyes once again by telling them that these buses would only take them to the headquarters of the company, where new buses will be used in the trip."
Mohamed Zayed, board chairman of the Golden Bird company, denied all the accusations levelled against his firm. "The company has a very good reputation and we have never even committed a minor violation," said Zayed. He claimed that the bus which took the people from Nuweiba to the borders of Saudi Arabia was a year-2000 model. He also said that the trip was switched from a sea-route to an overland route after the company failed to find places for the pilgrims on ships that were over- booked because of the pilgrimage season.
Zayed also claimed that the company did not get an additional penny from the pilgrims. "I am sure the investigation will prove the integrity of the company," he said.
Hajja Raifa -- who accompanied the victims on their way to Saudi Arabia but refused to take the bus back with them after she quarreled with the now deceased bus driver -- dismissed Zayed's words as mere lies. Raifa told the Weekly that the bus which took her and a group of pilgrims from their residence in Imbaba to Saudi Arabia was very old.
The details of the bus are still shrouded in mystery. Investigations conducted by the Ministry of Tourism proved that the bus was a year-2000 model, however.
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