Navy: Warning shot likely killed Egyptian in Suez

Navy: Warning shot likely killed Egyptian in Suez


By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, March 27, 2008



U.S. Navy and Embassy officials acknowledged Wednesday that shots fired from a U.S. Navy-contracted ship in the Suez Canal likely struck and killed an Egyptian man — a reversal of information provided a day earlier.

“It appears that an Egyptian in the boat was killed by one of the warning shots,” reads part of a statement issued Wednesday by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

A U.S. Navy security team embarked on the civilian cargo ship Global Patriot, chartered by the Navy’s Military Sealift Command to transport military equipment to and from the Middle East, fired the shots late Monday after the smaller vessel failed to back off when ordered, officials said.

The Navy’s 5th Fleet on Wednesday issued a statement expressing “regret for the death of an Egyptian citizen who died Monday night, an apparent result from warning shots fired at a small boat approaching a ship chartered by the U.S. Navy.”

“We express our deepest sympathies to the family,” Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, commander of 5th Fleet, said in the statement.

“We accept responsibility for actions that apparently resulted in this accidental death. This situation is tragic, and we will help take care of the victim’s family.”

Officials did not specify what that assistance would include, though the U.S. Military routinely pays for death or damage it has caused in other countries.

“We will work with the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and advocates to determine the appropriate action to take care of the family,” Lt. Nathan Christensen, a 5th Fleet spokesman, said Wednesday. “There is a process to work through this type of circumstance, and an advocate will help the family navigate through this process.”

U.S. Officials had said Tuesday that all of the shots were “accounted for” and that all had hit the water, denying that any casualties had occurred.

The conflicting information about the shots “wasn’t a mistake,” Christensen said. “It was at night, the incident still is under investigation, and the initial report out the gate was that all shots were accounted for.”

In addition to the man who died, two Egyptians were also injured in the incident, according to Egypt’s official MENA news agency.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Wednesday that while he could not confirm the number of injuries, “I don’t have anything that disputes what Cairo has said.”

The 5th Fleet is investigating the incident with Egyptian authorities.

The Global Patriot, under a short-term contract with the Navy’s Military Sealift Command, was returning to the U.S. From Kuwait with a cargo of assorted military equipment. It had arrived in Kuwait on March 8 to deliver military mine-resistant vehicles.

Stars and Stripes reporter Lisa Burgess contributed to this report.