Victim's families caught up in Egypt's worst maritime disaster are taking their fight to Italy to seek justice four years after the accident took place.

The Al-Salam Boccaccio 98 sank in the Red Sea on February 3, 2006 as it was en route from Saudi Arabia to the Egyptian port of Safaga.

Shortly after the ship's departure, an electrical fire broke out, which crew extinguished with water hoses. According to an Egyptian parliamentary report, the ferry's drains were blocked, causing an accumulation of water which led to the ferry capsising.

The 36-year-old vessel was routinely overloaded with passengers and was originally licensed in Italy to carry 1,187 people, but was permitted to carry up to 2,890 passengers by Egyptian authorities.

Now, victim's families are filing a civil suit against an Italian organisation that gave the go-ahead for the ill-fated ferry to to sail from Saudi Arabia before it sunk on the way to Egypt, killing more than 1,000 people.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Moyheldin reports.