Survivors, bodies recovered from capsized Red Sea tourist boat

CAIRO:  Rescuers on Tuesday recovered five survivors and four bodies from a dive boat that capsized off Egypt’s eastern coast a day earlier, Red Sea governor Amr Hanafi said.
A military-led team rescued two Belgians, one Swiss national, one Finnish tourist and one Egyptian, the governor said, bringing the total number of survivors from the accident to 33.
The “Sea Story” had been carrying 31 tourists of multiple nationalities and a 13-member crew when it was hit by a large wave near Marsa Alam in southeastern Egypt early on Monday, causing it to capsize.
The four bodies recovered on Tuesday have not yet been identified, and seven people are still missing after 28 were rescued on Monday.
A government source close to rescue operations said the five survivors were found on Tuesday morning inside the boat, which the governor said had been thrown on its side by an early morning wave but had not completely sunk.
“They were found inside one of the rooms which had not filled with water,” the government source told AFP, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
The group had spent at least 24 hours in the overturned vessel after authorities first received distress calls at 5:30 AM (0330 GMT) on Monday.
“Rescue operations are ongoing today, supported by a military helicopter and a frigate in addition to multiple divers,” the Red Sea governor told AFP Tuesday, declining to provide any further details about the operation.
The four bodies recovered on Tuesday were also located inside the stricken vessel.
The boat had embarked on a multi-day diving trip on Sunday and had been due to dock on Friday at the town of Hurghada, 200 kilometers (124 miles) north.
The governor on Monday said it capsized “suddenly and quickly within 5-7 minutes” of the impact with the wave, leaving some passengers — among them European, Chinese and American tourists — unable to set out of their cabins in time.
Rescuers from the military and a passing tourist boat pulled 28 people from the water on Monday.
According to a source at a hospital in Marsa Alam, six tourists and three Egyptians were admitted with minor injuries and discharged on Monday.
The tourists included “two Germans, two Britons, one Spaniard and one Swiss national,” the hospital administrator told AFP, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
According to the governor’s office, the boat was carrying tourists from Belgium, Britain, China, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.
Among the missing are two Polish tourists and one from Finland, according to both countries’ foreign ministries.
Authorities in Egypt have said the vessel was fully licensed and had passed all inspection checks. A preliminary investigation showed no technical fault.
There were at least two similar boat accidents in the Marsa Alam area earlier this year, but no fatalities.
The Red Sea coast is a major tourist destination in Egypt, a country of 107 million that is in the grip of a serious economic crisis.
Nationally, the tourism sector employs two million people and generates more than 10 percent of its 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.