A scuba diving boat carrying three British tourists caught fire off the coast of Egypt, and they have not been seen since. Shortly after midnight on Sunday, the medium-sized scuba diving boat named “Hurricane” caught fire off the southern Red Sea resort town of Marsa Alam, killing all 12 crew members and 12 British tourists on board, according to a statement released by Egypt’s Red Sea Governorate. The identity of the missing three British visitors prompted the dispatch of a search party.
According to the Egyptian authorities, “an electrical short circuit in the boat’s engine room sparked the fire” after they inspected the yacht. The fire started around 25 kilometres (16 miles) north of Marsa Alam, when the boat was on a six-day tour that was scheduled to end on Sunday. British officials have been in touch with Egyptian authorities, and the Foreign Office has stated that it is “supporting the British nationals involved.”
A rarity in Egypt
Social media posts depicted a white motor boat by that name on fire in the ocean, with smoke rising high into the sky. “We saw smoke from the boat, it was around 9km [6 miles] from the beach,” said Ahmed Maher, a diving manager in the town of Marsa Shagra. They were picked up by a passing boat and dropped off safely. In Egypt, fatal boating accidents are unusual. At least five individuals, including three children, were killed in 2021 after their boat sank in a lake near Egypt’s Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
In 1991, as many as 471 persons, predominantly Muslim pilgrims, drowned when the Salem Express, an Egyptian ferry travelling from Saudi Arabia to Egypt, capsized. Some of the best-known beaches in all of Egypt may be found in the Red Sea resorts, which are especially well-liked among European tourists. Because of the proximity of the dive sites to the coast and the abundance of marine life they offer, the region has become a popular scuba diving destination. Egypt’s tourist business has suffered from years of political instability, the spread of COVID-19, and the bad economic impact of the conflict in Ukraine. More over 10% of Egypt’s GDP comes from the tourist industry, and it directly supports over two million jobs. A Russian tourist was attacked and killed by a shark in the Red Sea near the Egyptian city of Hurghada on Thursday.
