2006年VOA标准英语-Rescue Efforts Continue in Red Sea Ferry D

By Challiss McDonough
Cairo
03 February 2006

Rescue efforts are still under way to find possible survivors¹ of an Egyptian passenger ferry that sank in the Red Sea early Friday, carrying roughly 1,400 people. There are conflicting reports about the number of survivors who have been rescued so far, with some sources saying it is about 100, and others saying it could be twice that many. It is feared that the death toll² will be high.

------------------------------------------------

Relatives wait next to entrance of port in Safaga awaiting news of friends and relatives who may have survived ferry sinking  
  

Dramatic television footage showed helicopters plucking survivors out of the water and off of life rafts in the rough waters of the Red Sea.

Red Sea provincial³ Governor Abu Bakr El-Rashidi told VOA that nightfall would not stop the rescue efforts.

"Rescue operations are still going on and will continue," he said. "God willing, rescue operations will continue."

It is not yet known what caused the passenger ferry to sink en route from the Saudi port of Dubah to the Egyptian port of Safaga. Officials say severe weather and rough seas could have been a factor.

The governor said search-and-rescue operations began early Friday, as soon as authorities realized that the ship had not arrived on schedule. But reports from the Red Sea say high winds and rough waves hampered⁴ early rescue efforts.

Andrea Odone is an official with El-Salam Maritime⁵ Transport, the company that owns the ship. He said it looks like it sank without warning.

"No, there were no distress⁶ calls," he said. "No distress was recorded from the satellites or whatever."

News agencies say it is true that no distress signals were heard at the ports on either side of the Red Sea. But the official MENA news agency says another ferry, the St. Catherine, did receive a distress call from the captain of the doomed⁷ vessel⁸. It is not clear what the St. Catherine did next.

A distress signal was also picked up by a British air force base in Scotland, and reportedly relayed to Egyptian authorities via France.

The transport company's Andrea Odone would not speculate on how the disaster occurred.

"We do not have and we cannot confirm anything about how many lifeboats have [been] launched or whatever," he said. "What we can say is the vessel is well equipped with safety devices for more than 2,000 passengers. For this part we are confident that the crew is well prepared. But at the moment we cannot guess the reason or whatever."

Egyptian authorities have launched an investigation⁹ into the accident. A spokesman for President Hosni Mubarak said the speed with which the ship sank indicated a possible safety problem. He also indicated that there may not have been enough life rafts aboard.

A sister ship owned by the same company sank in October after colliding with a Cypriot commercial vessel. Two people were killed in that accident.

1 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

2 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

3 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

4 hampered   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions. 恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• So thought every harassed, hampered, respectable boy in St. Petersburg. 圣彼德堡镇的那些受折磨、受拘束的体面孩子们个个都是这么想的。

5 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

6 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

7 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

8 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。