Swiss national among five survivors rescued after tourist yacht sank in Egypt’s Red Sea

Medics and people wait for possible survivors after a boat sank at a harbour in Marsa Alam, Red Sea Governorate, in Egypt 25 Novermber 2024. Keystone-SDA

Egyptian naval forces rescued five people on Tuesday, including a Swiss citizen, and recovered four bodies, a day after a tourist yacht carrying 44 passengers sank in the Red Sea coastal town of Marsa Alam, officials said.

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Provincial governor Amr Hanafi said rescue teams had found five people alive on Tuesday – two Belgian tourists, one Swiss, one Finn and an Egyptian – bringing the total number of survivors to 33.

The boat, the Sea Story, capsized on Monday near the Sataya Reef in south-east Egypt while carrying 31 tourists and 13 crew on a multi-day diving trip. It was struck by high waves and sank in five to seven minutes.

Twenty-eight people were rescued with minor injuries on Monday. They are staying in a hotel in Marsa Alam, where authorities are working with embassies to provide assistance and documentation.

According to the Red Sea governor’s office, the boat was carrying tourists from Belgium, the United Kingdom, China, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.

A total of two Swiss nationals were on board the ship. By mid-afternoon on Monday, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) told Keystone-ATS that one of these people had been rescued unharmed and that the second was missing. This Swiss national was found on Tuesday.

The four dead have not yet been identified and eight people are still missing. “Rescue operations are continuing today, with the support of a military helicopter and a frigate, as well as several divers,” said Hanafi.

Survivors

The Sea Story had left Port Ghalib, near Marsa Alam, on Sunday for a diving expedition lasting several days. It was due to reach Hurghada, 200 kilometres further north, on Friday.

After the boat was hit by high waves, some passengers were unable to get out of their cabins in time, officials said.

Army rescuers and a passing tourist boat rescued 28 people on Monday.

According to a hospital source in Marsa Alam, six tourists and three Egyptians were admitted with minor injuries and discharged from hospital the same day.

The tourists included “two Germans, two Britons, a Spaniard and a Swiss”, the hospital administrator told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Among those missing were two Polish tourists and two Finns, according to the foreign ministries of the two countries.

Approved boat

The authorities stated that the boat was fully certified and had passed all the tests. A preliminary investigation revealed no technical faults.

Monday’s accident was at least the third of its kind to be reported near Marsa Alam this year.

The tourism sector contributes more than 10% of Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP), where the Red Sea, one of the country’s main tourist destinations, attracts millions of visitors every year.

Every day, dozens of diving boats explore the coral reefs and islands off Egypt’s eastern coast, where strict safety rules are unevenly applied.

In early November, 30 people were rescued when a dive boat sank near the famous Deadalus reef.

Last June, around twenty French tourists were evacuated unharmed before their boat sank in a similar accident. A year earlier, three British tourists lost their lives when a fire burnt their yacht to the ground.

Adapted from French by DeepL/sb

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