A team of experts has located the ferry that sank this month in the Red Sea, killing about 1 000 people, an Egypt transportation ministry spokesperson said on Friday.
Mohammed Amin said the team, which includes experts from France and Britain, found the Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98 on Thursday about 89km from the Egyptian port of Safaga at a depth of about 800m.
The team will use a robot in an attempt to recover the data recorder — equivalent to the black box on an airplane — that could explain what caused the tragedy, Amin said.
A ship carrying the robot is headed to the scene, Amin said. It is expected to be over the sunken ferry by Saturday night.
The data recorder can provide information such as the exact route and wind direction to ”reveal the secrets and the circumstances” of the sinking, Amin said.
The ferry was carrying about 1 400 people when it sank earlier this month after a fire broke out on its journey from Saudi Arabia to Safaga.
Many of the 1 000 people who drowned were Egyptian workers returning from Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Persian Gulf. — Sapa-AP