On Feb. 3, 2006 the Egyptian Ro-Ro ferry al-Salam Boccaccio 98 caught fire and sank in the Red Sea. The ship was built in Italy in 1970, but was sold to an Egyptian company in 1999. The exact cause of the disaster is still unknown, but a fire was reported by some of the survivors. There were also reports of the ship listing soon after sailing.

The number of deaths will never be known but it was over 1,000, only about 400 survivors were found. Several
nations offered assistance to the Egyptians including the U.S.A. the U.K. and Israel, the first two were accepted,
but the Israeli offer was declined, apparently to Muslims it is better to die than be saved by a Jew.