17 missing after Red Sea tourist boat capsizes

Egyptian authorities said 17 people including foreigners were missing after a tourist yacht capsized off the country’s Red Sea coast on Monday, with 28 others rescued.

The vessel, which was carrying 31 tourists of various nationalities and a 14-member crew, sent out a distress call at 5:30am, said a statement from Egypt’s Red Sea governorate.

An AFP tally confirmed that tourists involved in the incident include nationals from Britain, China, Finland, Poland and Spain.

The “Sea Story” embarked on Sunday on a multi-day diving trip from Port Ghalib near Marsa Alam in the southeast, and had been due to dock on Friday at the town of Hurghada, 200 kilometres north.

Governor Amr Hanafi said that some survivors were rescued by an aircraft, while others were transported to safety aboard a warship.

“Intensive search operations are underway in coordination with the navy and the armed forces,” Hanafi added in a statement.

Authorities have not confirmed the nationalities of the tourists.

Beijing’s embassy in Egypt said 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.

The Finnish foreign ministry confirmed to AFP that one of its nationals is missing. Polish foreign ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski 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 told national news agency PAP.

The Red Sea governor’s office did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment about the possible cause of the accident.

According to a manager of a diving resort close to the rescue operation, one surviving crew member said they were “hit by a wave in the middle of the night, throwing the vessel on its side.”

Authorities in the Red Sea capital of Hurghada on Sunday shut down marine activities and the city’s port due to “bad weather conditions.”

But winds around Marsa Alam had remained favourable until Sunday night, the diving manager told AFP, before calming again by morning.

By Monday afternoon, it became increasingly “unlikely that the 17 missing would be rescued after 12 hours in the water,” he said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Agence France-Presse