Egypt tourist boat latest: Survivors used ‘20cm air pockets’ to stay alive in ‘complete darkness’

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.

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.

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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.

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:

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.

Four bodies were recovered and five survivors rescued from the water 24 hours after a yacht sank in the Red Sea when it got caught in rough weather.

The number of survivors now stands at 33 – including 28 who were rescued on Monday – with seven people still missing amid a major search operation led by Egyptian naval forces.

Two Brits among the 16 people originally missing on Monday have not yet been accounted for.

Sea Story, a live-aboard boat which was carrying 44 people on a five-day diving trip, sent a distress signal after a large wave crashed into the boat and caused it to capsize, according to survivors’ accounts of what happened.

Read yesterday’s full report:

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,” he told Sky News.

“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.”

Here’s all you need to know about the boat which capsized in the Red Sea on Monday:

• Sea Story, an Egyptian-owned boat, had set sail from Porto Ghalib on a five-day 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.
• At 5:30am on Monday, the ship sent out a distress signal, sparking a major rescue effort led by an Egyptian navy warship El Fateh and military aircraft.
• Survivors report that the boat was hit by a huge wave. 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 five to seven minutes. Some people were reportedly in their cabins at the time the wave hit. It sank off the popular tourist destination of Marsa Alam.
• By the end of Monday, 28 people had been rescued and 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, four bodies were recovered and five more people were rescued, bringing the total of survivors to 33.
• As of Wednesday morning, the search for seven remaining missing people goes on.

Seven people are still missing out at sea after the Sea Story vessel capsized on Monday.

The sun has now risen on the third day of the major search, led by Egyptian naval forces, in which 33 people have been rescued and four bodies have been recovered.

The picture below was taken from the beach where survivors of the boat were brought to safety on Monday.