“HIT BY A WAVE”
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”.
The governor said the vessel had passed its latest safety inspection in March this year, with no technical issues reported.
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 had become increasingly unlikely that those missing would be rescued “after 12 hours in the water”, he said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The Marsa Alam area saw at least two similar boat accidents earlier this year but there were no fatalities.
The Red Sea coast is a major tourist destination in Egypt, a country of 105 million that is in the grip of a serious economic crisis.
Nationally, the tourism sector employs two million people and generates more than 10 per cent of GDP.
Dozens of dive boats crisscross between Red Sea coral reefs and islands off Egypt’s eastern coast every day, where safety regulations are robust but unevenly enforced.
Earlier this month, 30 people were rescued from a sinking dive boat near the Red Sea’s Daedalus reef.
In June, two dozen French tourists were evacuated safely before their boat sank in a similar accident.
Last year, three British tourists died when a fire broke out on their yacht, engulfing it in flames.
