Cairo: Egyptian authorities revealed the details surrounding an accident on Tuesday in which a floating tourist hotel in the Nile in Luxor Governorate, south of the country, sank, resulting in the deaths of two people.
Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said that the Tivoli Nile cruise ship had been out of operation since 2010 and that its tourism license had not been renewed since.
The floating hotel had undergone development and renovation work so that it could operate during the next winter season, provided that it passed inspections from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and renewed its license.
No inspections had been conducted to restart operations, however, and no tourism operating license had been obtained from the ministry.
Egypt’s Ministry of Transport said that the owner of the floating hotel had submitted a request to the River Transport Authority to repair the ship. He was allowed to raise the unit on dry land in one of the specialized workshops approved of by the River Transport Authority.
The authority said that, after inspecting the Tivoli Nile ship, it granted the hotel a temporary permit to leave the repair shop to its own berth on Aug. 23 until it obtained the rest of the necessary licenses from the other relevant authorities.
The River Transport Authority stated that when the floating hotel was moored between two other tourist boats, it tilted on one side, which led to it settling on the bottom of the mooring without completely sinking.
The authority added that it is awaiting the public prosecution’s decision to determine the cause of the accident, which resulted in the deaths of two people, one of whom was 21 years old.
Luxor Governorate confirmed that the floating hotel had only workers and navigation crew on board.
It added that the river rescue personnel succeeded in retrieving the bodies of the two workers who were killed.
