Egypt’s search for Red Sea sinking survivors enters third day

Egypt’s search for Red Sea sinking survivors enters third day
Egypt released video footage Wednesday of the latest tourists rescued from a boat that capsized off the country’s Red Sea coast, where at least four people lost their lives. (REUTERS)
Short Url
Updated 27 November 2024
Follow

Egypt’s search for Red Sea sinking survivors enters third day

Egypt’s search for Red Sea sinking survivors enters third day
  • Governor’s office said search operation was continuing for 7 people still missing after the “Sea Story” was struck by a wave and capsized in middle of night on Monday

CAIRO: The search operation for seven people still missing from a dive boat that capsized and sank off Egypt’s east coast entered a third day on Wednesday, the governor of the Red Sea province said.

The country released video footage Wednesday morning of the latest tourists rescued from the vessel aboard which at least four people, including one Slovak tourist, died.

The governor’s office said the search operation was continuing for seven people still missing after the “Sea Story” was struck by a wave and capsized in the middle of the night on Monday.

The vessel had set off the day before from Port Ghalib, near Marsa Alam in the southeast, on a multi-day diving trip with 31 tourists — mostly Europeans, along with Chinese and US nationals — and a 13-member crew.

A military-led team on Tuesday rescued two Belgians, one Swiss national, one Finnish tourist and one Egyptian, authorities said, and recovered four bodies.

Slovakia’s foreign ministry said Egyptian authorities confirmed the death of one of its citizens on Wednesday. Two others were among the survivors.

A total of 33 people have been rescued, including tourists seen in the video stepping off a speedboat, wrapped in blankets, at a marina near Marsa Alam.

“We were shaking with cold,” one unidentified man said in the footage.

The tourists who appeared in the video had spent at least 24 hours inside a cabin of the overturned vessel before rescuers found them on Tuesday morning, according to a government source close to the rescue operations.

Two survivors — one identified by authorities on camera as an Egyptian — were rolled out on stretchers, one of them conscious and speaking.

A Belgian tourist sobbed when she was greeted by Marsa Alam mayor General Hazem Khalil.

Red Sea governor Amr Hanafi said the boat capsized “suddenly and quickly within five-seven minutes” after being struck by a strong wave in the middle of the night, leaving some passengers unable to escape their cabins.

The Sea Story had been due to dock on Friday at the tourist resort of Hurghada, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Marsa Alam.

Authorities in Egypt have said the vessel was fully licensed and had passed all inspection checks. A preliminary investigation showed no technical faults.

There were at least two similar boat accidents in the Marsa Alam area earlier this year, with no fatalities.

The Red Sea coast is a major tourist destination in Egypt.

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.


Trump hosts Netanyahu in push for Gaza deal

Trump hosts Netanyahu in push for Gaza deal
Updated 08 July 2025
Follow

Trump hosts Netanyahu in push for Gaza deal

Trump hosts Netanyahu in push for Gaza deal
  • Netanyahu was more cagey on peace with the Palestinians and ruled out a full Palestinian state, saying that Israel will ‘always’ keep security control over the Gaza Strip
  • The US proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel, two Palestinian sources close to the discussions had earlier told AFP

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump hosted Benjamin Netanyahu for dinner at the White House on Monday as he pressed the Israeli prime minister to end the devastating Gaza war.

Netanyahu’s third visit since Trump’s return to power comes at a crucial time, with the US president hoping to capitalize on the momentum from a recent truce between Israel and Iran.

“I don’t think there is a hold up. I think things are going along very well,” Trump told reporters at the start of the dinner when asked what was preventing a peace deal.

Sitting on the opposite side of a long table from the Israeli leader, Trump also voiced confidence that Hamas was willing to end the conflict in Gaza, which is entering its 22nd month.

“They want to meet and they want to have that ceasefire,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if clashes involving Israeli soldiers would derail talks.

The meeting in Washington came as Israel and Hamas held a second day of indirect talks in Qatar on an elusive ceasefire.

Netanyahu meanwhile said he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize — the US president’s long-held goal — presenting him with a letter he sent to the prize committee.

“He’s forging peace as we speak, in one country, in one region after the other,” Netanyahu said.

But Netanyahu was more cagey on peace with the Palestinians and ruled out a full Palestinian state, saying that Israel will ‘always’ keep security control over the Gaza Strip.

“Now, people will say it’s not a complete state, it’s not a state. We don’t care,” Netanyahu said.

Several dozen protesters gathered near the White House as Trump and Netanyahu met, chanting slogans accusing the Israeli prime minister of “genocide.”

Trump has strongly backed key US ally and fellow conservative Netanyahu, lending US support in Israel’s recent war by bombing Iran’s key nuclear facilities.

But at the same time he has increasingly pushed for an end to what he called the “hell” in Gaza. Trump said on Sunday he believes there is a “good chance” of an agreement this coming week.

“The utmost priority for the president right now in the Middle East is to end the war in Gaza and to return all of the hostages,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Leavitt said Trump wanted Hamas to agree to a US-brokered proposal “right now” after Israel backed the plan for a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

The latest round of negotiations on the war in Gaza began on Sunday in Doha, with representatives seated in different rooms in the same building.

Monday’s talks ended with “no breakthrough,” a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told AFP. The Hamas and Israeli delegations were due to resume talks later.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff was due to join the talks in Doha later this week in an effort to get a ceasefire over the line.

The US proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel, two Palestinian sources close to the discussions had earlier told AFP.

The group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system, they said.

In Gaza, the civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 12 people on Monday, including six in a clinic housing people displaced by the war.

Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 Hamas attack that triggered the war, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,523 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable.

 


Trump says Hamas ‘want to have that ceasefire’ in Gaza

Trump says Hamas ‘want to have that ceasefire’ in Gaza
Updated 08 July 2025
Follow

Trump says Hamas ‘want to have that ceasefire’ in Gaza

Trump says Hamas ‘want to have that ceasefire’ in Gaza

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump voiced his confidence Monday that Hamas was willing to agree a truce with Israel, as he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push for an end to the Gaza war.

“They want to meet and they want to have that ceasefire,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if clashes involving Israeli soldiers would derail talks.


Libya authorities intercept over 100 migrants off coast

Libya authorities intercept over 100 migrants off coast
Updated 08 July 2025
Follow

Libya authorities intercept over 100 migrants off coast

Libya authorities intercept over 100 migrants off coast
  • Libya has been gripped by unrest since the 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising

TRIPOLI: Libyan authorities on Monday said they had intercepted 113 migrants off the country’s coast and recovered three bodies in separate operations over three days.

The bodies of three “illegal migrants of African nationalities” were discovered on a beach in Misrata, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Tripoli, the Ministry of Interior said.

Also on Monday, security forces on a speedboat intercepted 54 migrants off Garabulli, 50 kilometers east of the capital Tripoli, the ministry added.

They were brought back to the capital’s port and handed over to the competent authorities, it said.

The day before, “as part of a plan to intensify maritime patrols during the summer,” 20 migrants “of various nationalities” were rescued off Zawiya, 45 kilometers west of Tripoli, the ministry said Sunday.

On Saturday, 39 migrants were intercepted off the eastern coast of Tripoli, the ministry reported, without providing further details about where they were found or their point of departure.

Libya has been gripped by unrest since the 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising.

It has become a hub for tens of thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe, risking their lives at sea.

Migrants intercepted by Libyan authorities — even in international waters before reaching the Italian coast, some 300 kilometers away — are forcibly returned to Libya and held in detention under harsh conditions frequently condemned by the United Nations.

 

 


Ending war in Gaza is ‘Trump’s utmost priority’

Ending war in Gaza is ‘Trump’s utmost priority’
Updated 07 July 2025
Follow

Ending war in Gaza is ‘Trump’s utmost priority’

Ending war in Gaza is ‘Trump’s utmost priority’
  • Israel’s refusal to allow free and safe entry of aid is key sticking point in Doha truce talks

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s “utmost priority” is to end the war in Gaza and free hostages held by Hamas, the White House said on Monday before a crucial meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff will this week travel to Qatar, where Israel and Hamas are holding indirect talks. Israel’s refusal to allow the free and safe entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza remains the main obstacle to progress in the ceasefire talks in Doha, Palestinian sources said. Mediators hosted two more rounds of discussions on Monday. 

The US-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the war entirely.

Hamas has long demanded a final end to the war before it would free remaining hostages, but Israel will not halt fighting until all hostages are free and Hamas dismantled. Trump said last week that he would be “very firm” with Netanyahu on the need for a speedy Gaza deal.

However, Israel has intensified its military campaign in Gaza and sharply restricted food distribution. “God willing, a truce will take place,” Mohammed Al-Sawalheh, 30, from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, said on Monday after another Israeli air strike. “We cannot see a truce while people are dying. We want a truce that will stop this bloodshed.”


Syrian wildfires spread for fifth day due to heavy winds and war remnants

Syrian wildfires spread for fifth day due to heavy winds and war remnants
Updated 07 July 2025
Follow

Syrian wildfires spread for fifth day due to heavy winds and war remnants

Syrian wildfires spread for fifth day due to heavy winds and war remnants
  • The fires have proven difficult to bring under control despite reinforcements from Jordan, Turkiye and Lebanon

LATAKIA: Syrian firefighters are facing heavy winds, high temperatures and ordnance left behind from the 13-year civil war as they try to extinguish some of country’s worst wildfires in years for the fifth day, a government minister said Monday.

The fires, which started last week, have proven difficult to bring under control despite reinforcements from Jordan, Turkiye and Lebanon that came to the war-torn country to help Syrian teams fight the blaze.

Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed Al-Saleh said their main challenges are two locations in the coastal province of Latakia that they have been trying to control for two days.

“We have controlled other locations,” Al-Saleh told The Associated Press at the scene.

On the second day of the fire, firefighters managed to get 90 percent of the wildfires under control but explosions of left-over war ordnance and heavy winds helped spread the fires again, Al-Saleh said. He added that 120 teams are fighting the blazes.

On Monday, the Lebanese army said it sent two helicopters to help fight the fires in coordination with Syrian authorities.

Over the weekend, UN teams deployed to the Syrian coast where they are conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the damage and to identify the most immediate humanitarian needs.

Summer fires are common in the eastern Mediterranean region, where experts warn that climate change is intensifying conditions that then lead to blazes.

Also, below-average rainfall over the winter left Syrians struggling with water shortages this summer, as the springs and rivers that normally supply much of the population with drinking water have gone dry.