Egypt tourist boat latest: Red Sea search enters critical third day with two Britons still unaccounted for

The Chinese embassy in Egypt said Monday two of its nationals were “in good health” after being “rescued in the cruise ship sinking accident in the Red Sea”, Chinese state media reported.

Pawel Wronski, the Polish foreign ministry spokesman, said authorities “have information that two of the tourists may have had Polish citizenship”.

“That’s all we know about them. That’s all we can say for now,” he said. The Finnish foreign ministry confirmed one of its nationals is missing.

Four bodies were recovered on Tuesday and rescue teams were still searching for nine missing people, the Red Sea Governorate said in a statement.

Provincial governor Amr Hanafi said rescue teams had found three people alive - two Belgian tourists and an Egyptian - bringing the total number of survivors to 31.

All 28 survivors of the Sea Story yacht, which capsized on Monday, were rescued with only minor injuries.

None of the survivors required hospitalisation, authorities reported.

They are now being accommodated in a hotel in Marsa Alam, where they are being given consular assistance by their embassies.

Two Brits are among either three bodies found or 13 people 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.

What was this vessel doing?

Sea Story was a liveaboard diving boat, based near the Red Sea port of Marsa Alam. She is one of dozens of similar vessels that take divers out to some of the most exciting underwater locations on the planet – with reefs, wrecks and colourful fish.

For a week’s voyage with the dive operator, Dive Pro Liveaboard, you would pay €1,220 (just over £1,000) and enjoy three or four dives per day.

The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:

A distress call was received at 5.30am from the boat, which had departed from Porto Ghalib in Marsa Alam on Sunday with plans to return to Hurghada Marina on 29 November.

Egyptian armed forces frigates and aircraft swept the area in search of the missing, but by 5pm the search had been paused for the night, a government source told Reuters on Monday.

Red Sea governor Amr Hanafi said that Egypt is collaborating with embassies, consulates, and relevant authorities to facilitate documentation for the rescued passengers, who are staying at a hotel in Marsa Alam, and to ensure their needs are met.

The sinking of a diving boat in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt has shocked the region and many across the world.

Three bodies have now been recovered, with 13 people still lost at sea as rescue efforts continue.

It is not the first such incident on a diving boat in the Red Sea. in June 2023, three British tourists died after a diving boat burst into flames.

They were part of a group of 15 qualified divers. The remaining 12 divers and 13 crew members evacuated the vessel.

Here is our report from last June:

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 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.

• Sea Story, an Egyptian-owned boat, had set sail on a five-day scuba diving trip, carrying 31 tourists and 13 crew. 
• This was despite warnings by the Egyptian Meteorological Authority on Saturday, advising against maritime activity on Sunday and Monday.
• Survivors report that the boat was hit by a huge wave on Monday. Wave heights of 3-4 meters (10-13 feet) and wind speeds of 34 knots were reported in the area on Sunday by the Egyptian Red Sea Ports Authority. 
• The boat capsized within a five to seven minutes, sparking a major rescue effort led by an Egyptian navy warship El Fateh and military aircraft. Some people were reportedly in their cabins at the time. 
• The boat sunk off the popular tourist destination of Marsa Alam.
• 28 people were rescued, but on Monday night 16 people remained missing, including two Brits. Tourists on the boat included nationals from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, China, Slovakia, Spain and Ireland.
• A technical defect on the boat was ruled out by the Red Sea region’s governor, Amr Hanafi, who said all the necessary safety permits had been obtained. 
• Embassies from around the world confirmed on Monday that they were offering consular assistance following the incident. 
• On Tuesday morning, it was reported that three bodies have been recovered. No details about the recovered bodies have been released.