Khaberni - A massive fire broke out on a Nile tourist boat in Luxor, southern Egypt, late on Tuesday evening, while it was on a Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan provinces, carrying 220 people on board.
Immediately upon reporting the fire, civil protection vehicles rushed to one of the informal Nile docks where the ship had sought refuge, and the authorities evacuated 220 passengers, including foreigners, from the tourist vessel, while only 3 people were injured in the fire, including two crew members who were injured while trying to control the flames.
The fire started in the kitchen of the Nile boat; which prompted the captain to stop immediately and evacuate the tourists on board, and headed towards an unofficial dock in the Al-Mata’ina area in Esna city, where all the passengers were disembarked.
The flames escalated and completely consumed the tourist ship, amid attempts by civil protection forces to control it; while the public prosecution commenced investigations to determine the cause of the fire.
Social media users circulated photos and videos showing the flames and dense smoke plumes rising from the ship.
The director of the Crisis Management Chamber in Luxor, Mohsen Al-Shami, said that the fire started in the ship's kitchen and spread to the rest of its parts after all the tourists were successfully evacuated, noting that 8 ambulances and 6 fire trucks were dispatched to deal with the incident.
