Surviving crew of doomed Egypt yacht are grilled by cops as hopes dwindle after 3rd day of search for 2 Brits & 7 others
THE surviving crew of the capsized Egyptian yacht are set to be grilled by cops as part of a major investigation into the tragedy.
Rescue efforts for the seven people missing continue for the third day after the doomed Sea Story ship sank off Hurghada.
Fears are mounting around the fate of the seven people missing – including two Brits.
The total number of survivors is now 33, while four bodies have been recovered from the wreckage.
An investigation into the Sea Story owner and crew was ordered by the Public Prosecution Office in the Red Sea Governorate today.
Heartwarming footage released today shows the latest tourists rescued from an air pocket.
They 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.
One of the five people rescued smiled and said “it’s nice to be back” after his ordeal of 36 hours.
Wrapped in a blanket, the Belgian national who was rescued smiled as he said: “it was very nice to be back, very nice“.
He added: “Yes, I really appreciate it [the rescue efforts].
“The reception on [the] boat with a warm shower, the dinner after and all the care they took because we were shaking with [the] cold and they warmed us up.”
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.
The yachat had left Porto Ghalib Port for a multi-day diving trip heading south towards Marsa Alam with 44 people on board.
At around 5:30am local time, a crew member sent out a distress signal from the boat before it suddenly dropped off the radar and lost all contact.
Authorities said military divers rescued two Belgians, one Swiss national, one Finnish tourist and one Egyptian.
Slovakia’s foreign ministry said Egyptian authorities confirmed the death of one of its citizens on Wednesday.
Two others were among the survivors.
Among the seven missing are two Brits, another two Polish tourists and one holidaymaker from Finland.
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.
Survivors said they heard trapped tourists screaming from inside their cabins.
A tourist said: “I was on the surface when things started to go wrong. I felt the boat tilting sharply, and I tried to hold on to something stable, but the capsizing was very fast.
“I heard screams from inside the cabins, but many were unable to get out because the doors were closed and the place was filled with water.”
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.
According to the ship tracking website Marine Traffic, the last location of the boat was off Hurghada.
The boat had been on the water despite authorities in the region shutting down activities and the city’s port on Sunday due to “bad weather conditions.”
Egyptian weather forecasters predicted wave heights to reach 10-13ft in the Red Sea before Sea Story departed.
Support is being given to “a number of British nationals and their families”, the UK Foreign Office confirmed.
Previous Dive Pro tragedies
THE Dive Pro Liveaboard firm who used the Egyptian yacht that sank in the Red Sea has been involved in two other serious incidents in the last three years.
In April 2022, Dive Pro Liveaboard were the main operators for the Scuba Scene yacht which dramatically caught on fire while out on the Red Sea.
Nineteen guests, three dive guides and 14 crew members were all forced to evacuate the flaming boat.
The vessel was seen slowly sinking to the sea floor as the tourist’s belongings were forever lost to the water.
Two years later, a second fire broke out on board a Dive Pro Liveaboard vessel.
In February of this year a boat known as Sea Legend was left badly charred after a blaze on deck before it started to sink.
Thirty one people travelling on the luxury vessel were made to evacuate in the emergency.
The smell of smoke is believed to have woken up the guests after a fire started in the kitchen area, eyewitnesses said.
It soon spread through the boat leading to the crew ordering all passengers off within 10 minutes of the first flames appearing.
Several of the shaken guests later complained about the safety protocols in place.
They claimed that smoke and fire alarms weren’t working and that the boat didn’t have enough life jackets on board.
An emergency flare was also never signalled despite the clear danger the guests felt they were in, they said.