Tourist yacht in Egypt sank while diving in the Red Sea, 17 people missing

Governor Amr Hanafi said that some of the survivors were rescued by plane, while others were transported to a safe place by warship.

“Intensive search operations are continuing in coordination with the navy and armed forces,” Hanafi said in his statement.

Authorities did not confirm the nationalities of the tourists.

According to reports in Chinese state media, Beijing’s embassy in Egypt said that two of its citizens “saved from the cruise ship accident that sank in the Red Sea” were “in good health.”

The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that one of its citizens was missing.

Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski said authorities “have information that two of the tourists may have Polish citizenship.”

“That’s all we know about them. That’s all we can say for now,” he said.

thrown ‘next to’

The Red Sea Governorate did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment on the possible cause of the crash.

According to the manager of a diving center close to the rescue operation, one surviving crew member said “a wave hit them in the middle of the night and the ship tipped on its side.”

Authorities in the Red Sea capital Hurghada closed maritime activities and the city’s port on Sunday due to “bad weather conditions”.

But winds around Marsa Alam remained positive until Sunday night and calmed down again in the morning, the dive manager told AFP.

On Monday afternoon, he requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, saying it was “increasingly unlikely that the 17 missing people will be rescued after 12 hours in the water.”

There were at least two similar boat accidents in the Marsa Alam region earlier this year, but there were no fatalities.

The Red Sea coast is an important tourism center in Egypt, which has a population of 105 million and is in the grip of a serious economic crisis. Nationally, the tourism sector employs two million people and produces more than 10% of GDP.

Every day, dozens of dive boats crisscross the coral reefs and islands off Egypt’s east coast, where safety regulations are robust but unevenly enforced.

Earlier this month, 30 people were rescued from a dive boat that sank near the Daedalus reef in the Red Sea.

In June, two dozen French tourists were safely evacuated before their boat sank in a similar accident.

Last year, three British tourists died in a fire on their yacht.

-Agence France-Presse