Dr. Mohamed Saad Katatni, Secretary-General of the Freedom and Justice party, praised the efforts of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in rescuing passengers of the ferry Pella, on which a massive fire erupted this morning, after sailing off the Jordanian port of Aqaba on the way back to the Egyptian port of Nuweiba in South Sinai.
The blaze had broken out earlier in the day in the ferry’s cargo section during the voyage across the Gulf of Aqaba.12 passengers suffered from smoke inhalation and were taken to a Jordanian hospital. The remaining 1,230 passengers — all Egyptians — were placed aboard another ferry that subsequently sailed off to Egypt, he said.