Fred
Scamaroni was built in France and launched in November
1964. She was a beautiful ship for her time. She served
both in France and England, before she ended up in Egypt
and was renamed Salem Express. Her beauty soon disappeared
as both mechanical maintenance and caring for the ship in
general was neglected. On her last voyage she had been
delayed two days due to engine trouble in Jeddah . After
she was able to set sail towards Safaga, the weather
deteriorated and the ship hit the Hyndman Reefs outside
Egypt at night 17.December 1991 after a bad decision by
the captain. She sank within a few minutes and in the
official reports its stated that 464 people perished. The
wreck rest today on a depth of approx 12 to 30 meter
southeast on Hyndman Reef.
Name:
|
Former names:
|
Dimensions: |
Salem
Express
|
Fred Scamaroni, Nuits
Saint George, Lord Sinai |
114,9
x 17,8 x 4,9 m |
|
|
|
Tons: |
Built: |
Home
Port: |
4470 grt
|
Le Seyne ( F ) 1966
|
Safaga ( EG ) |
|
N
26.39.01 E 34.03.48

Picture: Nuits Saint George
Originally from skovheim.org

Lloyd’s casualty report:
"The Salem Express sank after grounding in the Red Sea
on 15 December 1991. It was a 4770 GRT Egyptian Ro-Ro
passenger ferry, built in 1966, originally certified for
1384 passengers. It was sailing from Jeddah (Saudi
Arabia) to Safaga (Egypt) with 578 passengers and 71
crew. While approaching Safaga at midnight in rough
weather, the Master took a short-cut which was not
authorised for night passage. The ferry struck a reef
and sank within 20 minutes. There were 180 survivors and
117 bodies recovered. It was estimated that 464 people
drowned in total"
|