The ship was originally named Fred Scamaroni, a World War II French resistance member who was captured and tortured, killing himself in his cell without revealing his mission.
In November 1964 she was launched and towed to Port-de-Bouc for completion, being finally delivered in June 1965 to the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, Marseille, France.
While operating the Dunkirk – Ramsgate route in 1980, she ran aground, and on another occasion caused a traffic jam due to slow truck loading.
[10] The ship ran aground on a coral reef between 6–10 miles (9.7–16.1 km) offshore, after deviating from its planned route.
The official record in Lloyd's Marine Casualties states: While approaching Safaga at midnight in rough weather, the Master took a short-cut which was not authorised for night passage.
[5] Cairo's state-owned radio quoted Samatour officials as saying the ship had veered off course in bad weather and that attempts had been made, apparently unsuccessfully, to warn it.
[5] However, an alternative belief is that the ship was deliberately taken on a different route by the captain in an attempt at a short-cut, to reduce the travel time by several hours.
The crew were relaxed and did not anticipate the disaster; Captain Hassan Khalil Moro was resting in his cabin, as was his habit, with the first officer on the bridge.
Ismail Abdel Hassan, an amateur long-distance swimmer who worked as an agricultural engineer, stood on the ship's deck as it sank.
[5] Due to bad weather, rescuers could not begin work until dawn on December 15, with 10-foot (3.0 m) seas and high winds making the rescue operation challenging.
On December 17, the Egyptian Navy began recovery operations, supported by 23 local diving professionals and hobbyists from Hurghada and Safaga.
Victims recovered were mostly from the uppermost port side of the ship; the ferry's captain, Hassan Khalil Moro, and two other crew members were found in the bridge area, contradicting rumours he had left in a lifeboat.
Although Islamic tradition prefers to avoid burial at sea where possible,[15][circular reference] it is permissible when there is no other option, and entryways into the ship were welded shut to prevent the bodies from being disturbed in an attempt to protect the site as a tomb.
[12] A contemporary news report gives a slightly different total of 664 passengers, with 179 survivors and 485 missing at time of publication, with 71 crew members.
Despite the reported welding over, the ship can be entered at many points, and its recent sinking means it is comparatively intact, and growing corals.
It is known for its large amount of well-preserved artifacts in the debris field and within the ship, including luggage and passenger items: "rolls of carpet, portable stereos, even bicycles and pushchairs"[18] and lifeboats on the sea bed.