A diver has revealed incredible details of the operation to rescue survivors in a tourist yacht which sank in the Red Sea, as the search for seven remaining people missing continued for its third day.
Khattab al-Faramawy, a professional licensed diver whose nephew was onboard the Sea Story boat, recalled finding survivors “trapped inside the boat cabins” around 24 hours after the vessel had sunk.
Sea Story sank in the early hours of Monday morning after sending a distress signal at 5:30am. Onboard the boat were 44 people, including 31 passengers – including two Britons – and 13 crew members.
On Monday, 28 people were rescued in a major operation led by Egyptian naval forces and the Red Sea Governorate. Five more people were rescued on Tuesday, while four bodies were recovered – and currently remain unidentified.
Mr al-Faramawy recalled diving 12m (40ft) below water on Tuesday to find survivors still stuck inside the cabins of the ship, which was mostly submerged but for around half a meter poking out above sea.
He told the BBC that it was a “complicated mission” due to the darkness underwater. But he was nonetheless able to save his 23-year-old nephew Youssef, who was a diving instructor onboard the boat.
Youssef’s father, Hussam, who broke down in tears when finding out his son was alive, said Youssef was locked in one of the boat’s cabins while “trying to save the passengers”.
On Wednesday, search efforts continued, but at the time of publication there had been no update on the seven people who remained missing.
Footage emerged of one survivor, a Belgian tourist, telling officials that it’s “very nice to be back” after he was brought to safety by rescuers. He recalled that he had been “shaking with cold” after being stuck in the Red Sea, and thanked the Egyptian military and emergency services for the warm shower after his rescue.
Uncertainty remains as to the exact cause behind the sinking of the Sea Story. On Monday, Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi said a huge wave had struck the boat causing it to capsize, according to survivors’ accounts.
But oceanographer Simon Boxall cast doubt on these claims, suggesting the wind conditions would not have been strong enough to produce a wave that could capsize the yacht.
Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday morning, he said: “We are getting the same story coming out, mainly from the governor of the region, saying a ‘huge wave’ hit the ship.
“There’s no evidence of that. The Egyptian Met Office did issue a storm warning, but that was for the Red Sea and the Mediterranean generally.
The wind conditions for the region around Marsa Alarm “weren’t that strong” and “wouldn’t create these alleged three- to four-metre waves”, he added.
“I still feel that this is probably not a wave that caused the capsize. We need to see an investigation coming out of this. It’s still early days, but the information coming out from the Egyptian authorities is still very sparse.”