Egypt tourist boat latest: Diver reveals survivors pulled from cabins 40 feet underwater on sunken yacht
Two Britons are still unaccounted for after a yacht sunk in Egypt’s Red Sea
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Your support makes all the difference.A diver has revealed that survivors were “trapped inside the boat cabins” of the sunken Egyptian vessel in the Red Sea.
The Sea Story boat capsized with 44 people onboard early on Monday morning. While 28 people were rescued on Monday and five on Tuesday, the authorities have recovered four bodies.
Seven people remain missing with the search efforts still underway, the Egyptian military spokesman said. Two Britons who were on the boat are yet to be accounted for, and it is not clear whether they are among the dead - who have not been identified - or remain missing.
According to diver Khattab al-Faramawy, the yacht is largely submerged with just half a metre poking above water.
“We dived 12m (40ft) under water - the survivors were trapped inside the boat cabins,” he told the BBC on Wednesday. It was a “complicated mission” as they had to “find our way into the darkness”.
One of the people Mr al-Faramaway rescued was his nephew, who got locked in one of the cabins while he was trying to save the passengers on board.
Survivors were ‘trapped inside cabins’, says rescue diver
A diver who rescued survivors of the Sea Story yacht has revealed that some were “trapped inside the boat cabins” before being rescued.
The yacht is largely submerged, with less than half a metre of the boat still above water, Khattab al-Faramawy told the BBC.
“We dived 12m (40ft) under water - the survivors were trapped inside the boat cabins,” he said, adding that it was a “complicated mission” due to darkness.
“My heart goes out to the families of the dead, and I hope they will find all the missing passengers alive,” he added.
Watch: Rescuers help survivors of boat sunk off Red Sea coast as four Britons feared missing
Watch as rescuers help Egyptian yacht survivors after the Sea Story boat sank off the Red Sea coast.
Four Britons are among dozens of people feared missing after a tourist yacht sank off the coast of Egypt on Monday (25 November).
The boat sank off the south of the Egyptian coastal town of Marsa Alam with 31 tourists of various nationalities on board along with 14 crew members.
A surviving crew member said the boat was “hit by a wave in the middle of the night, throwing the vessel on its side”.
Capsized vessel had enough escape rafts for 50 people
The capsized Sea Story vessel had enough “safety rafts” for everyone on board the boat, its specifications show.
On the Dive Pro Liveaboard website, the company which owns and operates the boat, Sea Story is listed with “two safety rafts for 25 persons each”. There were 44 people on board the boat, but it is unclear whether the rafts were used.
But according to Red Sea regional governor Amr Hanafi, some people were stuck in their cabins when a huge wave struck the boat and it began to capsize.
The website says that each cabin had life jackets inside.
The four-deck boat has 18 twin cabins, a lounge, and a bar. It is 44 meters long and 9 meters wide, the specifications add.
Around 56 hours in, the search continues for seven missing people
Around 56 hours since the Sea Story vessel capsized in the Red Sea, the search for seven people missing on the tourist yacht continues.
The governor of the Red Sea region, Amr Hanafy, said rescuers were still searching for the missing people after a total of 33 people were rescued.
The Sea Story was carrying 44 people, including 31 foreign nationals from the UK, the US, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, China, Slovakia, Spain and Ireland, when it was struck by a large wave.
The governor said he visited the site where the vessel sank and said those rescued were airlifted to receive medical treatment.
Those who survived suffered only bruises and abrasions and were taken to a hotel in Marsa Alam in good condition.
What caused the yacht to sink?
It was not immediately clear what caused the four-deck motor yacht to sink after it departed from the Egyptian coastal town of Marsa Alam on Monday.
The Egyptian Meteorological Authority on Saturday warned about rough weather and large waves, advising against maritime activity for Sunday and Monday on the Red Sea.
A surviving crew member also said the boat was “hit by a wave in the middle of the night, throwing the vessel on its side”.
Other survivors said a “high sea wave” hit the vessel and caused it to capsize in “about five or seven minutes”, according to the governor of the Red Sea region Amr Hanafi.
But an oceaonographer has cast doubt on whether this is what caused the vessel to sink, suggesting the wind conditions would not have been severe enough to produce a wave capable of capsizing a yacht.
Speaking to Sky News, Simon Boxall called for an investigation into the incident.
Watch: Egypt tourist yacht survivors gather after boat sinks
Passengers who survived after a tourist yacht sank in the Red Sea off Egypt gathered at a coffee shop after they were rescued on Monday, 25 November.
Three bodies have been recovered from the vessel, Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi told Reuters on Tuesday.
Two Britons were among the 16 people initially reported missing after a massive rescue operation saved 28 people from the imperilled vessel which was hit by a “huge wave” and sank on Monday.
The identities of the people whose bodies have been recovered have not been confirmed.
What is the timescale of the Red Sea boat disaster?
On Saturday, the Egyptian Meteorological Authority forecast high seas on the Red Sea, with 40mph winds and 12-foot waves, and advised against maritime activity for Sunday and Monday.
On Sunday, Sea Story left Port Ghalib, just north of the resort of Marsa Alam, on a routine five-day voyage. On board: 13 crew and 31 divers.
Early on Monday morning the vessel capsized after being struck by a large wave, according to the accounts of survivors. The crew managed to send out a distress call at around 5:30am, and 28 of the people on board were rescued that day.
Search efforts continued into the evening on Monday, before they resumed on Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday, Egyptian authorities recovered four bodies and rescued five people, bringing the total up to 33.
Going into the third day, seven people remain missing and there has not yet been any update.
Pictured: How the rescue unfolded
Egypt tourist boat: Everything we know about the incident in the Red Sea
Two Britons are among the missing after a dive boat was hit by a “huge wave” and capsized off the Red Sea coast of Egypt on Monday 25 November.
In a rescue operation, 28 people were saved from the Sea Story before she sank, according to the governor of the Red Sea region, Amr Hanafi.
These are the key questions and answers.
The Independent’s Travel Correspondent Simon Calder reports:
Egypt tourist boat: Everything we know about the incident in the Red Sea
Foreign Office warns that ‘overcrowding and poor safety standards have caused accidents on Red Sea ferries and Nile cruises’
Is the Red Sea a dangerous part of the world for shipping?
Not especially – except for military activity by the Yemeni Houthi rebels in the past year – but there can be some intense thunderstorms.
The worst maritime disaster in the Red Sea occurred in 2006, when a ferry from Duba in Saudi Arabia to Safaga in Egypt sank after a fire on board and subsequent efforts to extinguish it. Around 1,000 passengers lost their lives, with bad weather thought to have contributed to the appallingly high death toll.
The Foreign Office warns: “Overcrowding and poor safety standards have caused accidents on Red Sea ferries and Nile cruises.”
In June 2023 three British tourists died in a fire aboard another dive boat, Hurricane, close to where the Sea Story sank.
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