SAFAGA, Egypt, February 4, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Hopes of finding nearly 900 missing people after an Egyptian ferry sank in the Red Sea faded on Saturday, February 4, as rescuers continued to scour the Red Sea for the second day.

"There aren't expected to be many survivors, because it's been so long since the ship went down," a source close to the rescue operations told Reuters.

However, General Mahfouz Taha, head of the Red Sea Ports Authority, said rescue efforts would continue.

Strong winds and currents hampered the initial phase of the search and rescue operation and after two nights of low temperatures in the middle of the Red Sea, chances of spotting more survivors were receding by the minute.

Rescuers have already found at least 185 bodies and pulled 354 survivors from the waters near the spot where the 35-year-old ferry Al Salam 98 sank on its journey to Safaga from Duba in northwest Saudi Arabia, said one Egyptian official.

Only 145 survivors were brought to hospitals in Hurghada, a larger port north of Safaga, according to hospital official Imadeddin Hindi.

The ferry was carrying 1,272 passengers, mainly Egyptians, and 100 crew when it lost contact with the shore at about 10 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Thursday, February 2.

An official at El-Salam Maritime Transport Company, which owned the Panamanian-registered ferry, said coastal stations had not received a distress call but Egypt's MENA news agency said another ship picked up a message from the ferry's captain saying his ship was in danger of sinking.

This is one of the gravest maritime accidents in recent years.

Controversy mounted over the safety of the 36-year-old ship and survivors blamed the captain for refusing to turn around when a fire broke out shortly after the vessel left Saudi Arabia.

"Two hours after our departure from Duba thick smoke started to come out of the engines," 34-year-old Egyptian Raafat al-Sayyed told Agence rance-Presse (AFP).

He said passengers were told to gather on the decks so that crew members could extinguish the blaze as the ship started to list dangerously.

"But the fire continued for a long time, and they (the crew) kept on saying that they were getting it under control," said Kamel Mohammad Abdel Askari, 48, another Egyptian.

The survivors said the ferry continued on its voyage, listing to the port side, before suddenly going down in less than 10 minutes.

Contact was lost with the ship shortly after 2400 GMT Thursday but news that it had sunk only emerged 12 hours later.

Survivors said they spent up to 20 hours floating in rubber dinghies and holding on to life rings. (Reuters)

Some of the survivors, recovering in an Egyptian hospital from their traumatic voyage, said they spent up to 20 hours floating in rubber dinghies and holding on to life rings waiting to be rescued, reported Reuters.

Rifat Saeed, 34, said he picked up a life ring from the ship before jumping in the water.

"Then I found a big rubber dinghy. There were 20 people in it," he said.

Ashraf Saeed Mohammed said he clung to a ring for 16 hours.

"Thank God ... I had thought it was the end," he said.

Hundreds of weeping and angry relatives of passengers gathered in front of the gates of the port where the ferry should have arrived at 2 a.m. (midnight GMT) on Friday, February 3.

"They are not telling us anything," Gadir Mohammed shouted outside the port's gates. "Where are the corpses? Where are they taking the survivors?"

Furious relatives have stormed harbor offices in protest at the government blackout.

Government employees could be seen hastily applying a fresh layer of paint on the town's pavements as President Hosni Mubarak reportedly prepared to pay a visit to the survivors.

"They are too busy preparing the president's visit and they don't have time to care about our sons," one angry Egyptian told AFP.

Controversy has started to emerge over the Al-Salam Boccaccio 98's compliance with international regulations and Mubarak demanded an immediate probe into the accident, pointing at safety failures.

Officials and experts initially said poor weather was likely to be behind the sinking of the 11,800 gross ton vessel in the Red Sea but Egypt's presidential spokesman suggested there could have been problems with the ship.

"The speed with which the ship sank and the lack of sufficient lifeboats indicate there was some deficiency," Suleiman Awad told Egyptian television.

A shipping company official said the Saudi authorities had confirmed that everything was in order when the ship set sail.

An official at El-Salam Maritime Transport Company said it remained unclear what had happened to the ship, which was built in Italy in 1970 and moved to the Egyptian company in 1998.

If the death toll rises further on Saturday, the sinking of the Al-Salam could turn out to be one of the deadliest maritime tragedies in recent years.