At least 8 children killed in Nile ferry incident

River rescue services retrieved on Monday the body of the eighth victim of an incident in which a truck carrying 24 passengers fell from a ferry into the Nile in Monufiya last week.

News reports on Monday indicated that there were still two people still missing.

The passengers, the majority of whom were minors, were on their way back to their village of Ezbet al-Taftish in Monufiya Governorate after spending the day at work on desert road farms collecting vegetables, fruits and eggs, a resident of the area previously told Mada Masr.

The truck fell into the water as it was trying to board a ferry that transports vehicles between Ezbet al-Taftish on one bank of the Rashid branch of the Nile, and Qatta village in Giza on the other.

At least eight children aged 13 to 17 have died in the incident, and their bodies have been recovered over the past week. The body of Shorouk Yasser was found on Monday morning about 10 kilometers from the scene of the accident.

The driver of the truck and three people who worked on the ferry have been arrested, according to a statement by the Public Prosecution, which said that the ferry was operating without a license.

No safety rails were affixed to the ferry, said Karam Aslan, who lives nearby and helped during the rescue operations. “There are usually two metal barriers on both ends of the ferry: one facing the water, to protect the cars from falling, which should always be closed, and another facing land, which should be closed after all the vehicles have boarded the ferry.”

Aslan told Mada Masr that survivors said the truck boarded the ferry from one side, but that the driver lost control and the truck quickly fell off the other side into the Nile, before the ferry began moving. 

Negligence with regard to safety measures on ferries is very common, said Aslan. Two days after the incident, Al-Masry Al-Youm news outlet quoted unnamed high-level sources saying that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered the government to build a bridge in the area as an alternative to the ferries.

On the same day, the Monufiya Governorate decided to disburse LE120,000 in financial compensation to the families of each of the victims, while the Hayah Karima initiative for rural development also announced that the families would receive LE20,000 each.