Egypt tourist boat latest: Survivors used ‘20cm air pockets’ to stay alive in ‘complete darkness’
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.Survivors of the sunken Egyptian vessel which capsized in the Red Sea used 20cm air pockets to stay alive for around 30 hours, a family member has revealed.
The survivors battled for their lives in “complete darkness”, as they shared a small pocket of a cabin in which they were trapped for more than a day in “cold water”, Hussam al-Faramawy told The Times.
Mr al-Faramawy’s son Youssef, was a diving instructor rescued from the yacht. Youssef had “sent out a distress signal” along with the vessel’s captain, before going to help a man and woman who were “trapped in a cabin”.
He was among the five people rescued on Tuesday over a day after the boat capsized. This brought the total number of people rescued to 33, after 28 were rescued on Monday.
Four bodies were recovered from the boat on Tuesday, with seven people still remain missing.
According to the AFP news agency, two Britons were among those rescued on Monday. But two Britons remain unaccounted for, and according to some reports are among the seven missing.
Diver rescued his nephew from sunken yacht
Khattab al-Faramawy, the diver who revealed that survivors were pulled from their cabins where they had been trapped after the Sea Story vessel sunk, has shared more details of the rescue effort.
His 23-year-old nephew Youssef, a diving instructor, was among those that he rescued on Tuesday.
Youssef’s father, Hussam, broke down in tears after discovering his son was alive, and only told his son’s mother what was happening “after I realised that [Youssef] survived”.
“He was trying to save the passengers on board but got locked in one of the cabins,” Mr al-Faramawy (Hussam) told the BBC.
Youssef is being treated in a local hospital, the broadcaster reports.
Video: Egypt tourist yacht survivor’s first words as five more rescued after boat sinks
Egypt tourist yacht survivor’s first words as five more rescued after boat sinks
A survivor of the Egypt tourist yacht that sank in the Red Sea off Egypt on Monday (26 November) thanked his rescuers in an emotional exchange on Tuesday. The Belgian tourist told officials "It's very nice to be back" as five people were rescued alive, bringing the total number of survivors to 33. Two British passengers remain among seven missing people as the search enters a critical third day. German and Polish nationals are believed to make up the others who are unaccounted for.
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.
Reason for capsize was ‘probably not a wave’, says oceanographer
An oceanographer has cast doubt on the claim that a huge wage caused the Sea Story ship to sink, saying the wind conditions weren’t strong enough.
“We are getting the same story coming out, mainly from the governor of the region, saying a ‘huge wave’ hit the ship,” Simon Boxall told Sky News on Wednesday morning.
“There’s no evidence of that. The Egyptian Met Office did issue a storm warning, but that was for the Red Sea and the Mediterranean generally.”
The wind conditions for the region around Marsa Alarm “weren’t that strong” and “wouldn’t create these alleged three- to four-metre waves”, he added.
“I still feel that this is probably not a wave that caused the capsize. We need to see an investigation coming out of this. It’s still early days, but the information coming out from the Egyptian authorities is still very sparse.
“We don’t know where the vessel is, we don’t know, is it sunk? What depth of water is it in? The information is being filtered by the Egyptian authorities, there’s been no direct statements from people from the boat itself, it’s all been through the authorities.”
Pictured: How the rescue unfolded
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 of the search on Wednesday, seven people remained missing.
Watch: Red Sea yacht survivor speaks for first time after rescue
A survivor of the Egypt tourist yacht that sank in the Red Sea off Egypt on Monday (26 November) thanked his rescuers in an emotional exchange on Tuesday.
The Belgian tourist told officials “It’s very nice to be back” as five people were rescued alive, bringing the total number of survivors to 33.
“I really appreciate [the rescue efforts of the Egyptian military],” he added, before thanking them for his welcome onboard and the warm shower he was given after he had been “shaking with cold”.
Egypt tourist yacht survivor’s first words as five more rescued after boat sinks
A survivor of the Egypt tourist yacht that sank in the Red Sea off Egypt on Monday (26 November) thanked his rescuers in an emotional exchange on Tuesday. The Belgian tourist told officials "It's very nice to be back" as five people were rescued alive, bringing the total number of survivors to 33. Two British passengers remain among seven missing people as the search enters a critical third day. German and Polish nationals are believed to make up the others who are unaccounted for.
Poland and Germany say their nationals missing
The Polish foreign ministry said on Tuesday that two Polish nationals, a man and a woman, are still missing in the Egypt boat tragedy.
Addressing reporters, spokesperson Paweł Wroński said the families of those missing have been notified.
Meanwhile, the German foreign ministry said on Tuesday that three Germans remain missing while three others have been rescued.
Update from the Egyptian Military
In a post on Facebook, the Egyptian military spokesman said: “Following the assignment of the General Command of the Armed Forces of the Navy to intensify efforts in search and rescue operations for survivors and missing people in the accident of the tourist boat sinking (SE-story), the Navy continued its efforts in search work in the area of the accident south of the city of Morsa Alam in the Red Sea province.
“Efforts resulted in finding 9 people of different nationalities, among them, 5 are alive and 4 are dead.
“Medical ambulances were provided to the survivors in cooperation with the executive authorities of the Red Sea Governorate, and the Navy continues its efforts to find the remains of the missing persons.”
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