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Ship collision: pilgrims rescued

CAIRO: An Egyptian passenger cruiser carrying over 1,300 Muslim pilgrims collided with a cargo ship at the Suez Canal's southern entrance late on Monday, causing a stampede among panicked passengers on their sinking vessel that killed two persons, officials and state-run media said.

Another 40 persons were injured in the stampede to flee the Salam 95, which was struck by the Cypriot-registered Jebal Ali at 7:30 p.m. near Port Tawfiq, about 130 km east of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, port and police officials said.

At least 12 rescue boats rescued the bulk of the 1,350 passengers from the Salam 95, most of whom were Egyptian except for five Palestinians, before the vessel sank three hours later, the officials said on condition of anonymity as they were unauthorised to speak to the media. — AP

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