(5 Apr 1996) T/I: 11:04:00
Some 570 tourists on a crippled luxury cruise-ship in the Red Sea were ferried to land on Friday (5/4), after the vessel, the Royal Viking Sun, was towed to Egypt's resort of Sharm el-Sheikh The Chairman of Aqaba Port Authority in Jordan, Doraid Nahsneh, explained how the accident happened.
SHOWS:
AQABA, JORDAN 5/4
WS port;
VS of ships in port;
Doraid Nahsneh, chairman of Aqaba Port Authority, who is supervising the rescue operation, ENG SOT: "Some time around 10 p.m. last night I received a distress call or an SOS call from the ship in the straits of Tehran, that had problems passing through the straits and some leakage of water was coming
through the ship. The ship belongs to the American line Cunard and its name is the "Viking" and the ship was destined for Aqaba, carrying around 600 tourists plus a crew of around 300. The ship had problems and it started calling around for ports or ships to help. We immediately mobilized tug boats to leave from Aqaba to Sharm el Sheik, a trip of around seven hours. We
also mobilized a passenger boat which can carry 260 passengers to help in the rescue. Early this morning, alongside the ship (they) were able to tow the ship to Sharm El Sheik where it's supposed to be anchored and repaired if needed. Right now, the passenger boat is evacuating the passengers to Sharm El Sheikh."
WS ship in port
SOT: "I don't know if the (tourists') program would allow them to come back to Aqaba. We owe them at least that much, to show them Aqaba, which immediately responded to their distress call.
WS ship
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