Five Egyptians die in Nile river cruise ship fire

CAIRO, Dec 2 (Reuters) Five Egyptians were killed today in a fire that broke out on a Nile cruise boat in Luxor, a southern Egypt town whose Pharaonic temples and ancient royal tombs draw many tourists, security sources said.

They said that 43 French tourists were quickly evacuated from the three-storey boat after the fire broke out in the engine room overnight and quickly spread. No tourists were hurt.

The five Egyptians who died were either trapped by flames as they tried to extinguish the blaze or drowned after falling into the river, the sources said. Another two Egyptians were injured. The accident occurred shortly after an Italian tourist was lightly injured when a charter plane bound for the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh made an emergency landing in Cairo after the cockpit windshield splintered yesterday.

A series of road and rail accidents in recent years in Egypt, where tourism is a major source of foreign currency revenue, have triggered a public outcry at what critics call the government's failure to enforce safety standards.

Source:DeepikaGlobal.com