Missing Persons
A tourist boat with 45 people on board sank on Monday in a Red Sea area off eastern Egypt during a diving trip, according to official sources.
The vessel carried 31 tourists and 14 Egyptian crew members and sank for unknown reasons in the Al Ghadeer area near Marsa Alam, about 740 kilometers southeast of Cairo.
The Red Sea governor Amro Hanafi said in a statement that some survivors have been rescued by specialized teams, in cooperation with the Egyptian armed forces and naval units.
The search and rescue helicopter transported some survivors for necessary medical treatment, while the rest were secured at the scene until the frigate Al Fateh arrived to move them to a safe location, the governor said.
Hanafi did not specify numbers or the tourists’ nationalities, but he said that operations continue to search for missing people and emphasized that the safety of everyone remains a priority, with officials promising to announce any developments in due time.
Security sources indicated that the boat began this Sunday a six-day diving trip from the resort town of Hurghada, also on the Red Sea, toward a Marsa Alam area further south before grounding on coral reefs and sinking in the Al Ghadeer zone.
The Red Sea control center received a distress signal at 5:30 a.m. local time (2:30 GMT) from a member of the boat while it was on a diving trip, according to security sources.
They reiterated that search operations for survivors are ongoing, with a helicopter and an Egyptian naval frigate taking part, coordinating with other rescue assets as needed.