Three British tourists have been confirmed dead after a fire onboard a diving boat off Egypt’s Red Sea coast, a day after they were declared missing after a frantic search by the captain and crew.
Twelve other divers and 14 crew, including the captain of the Hurricane, were rescued after abandoning the ship on Sunday morning. The group had sailed out to Elphinstone reef, a famed diving spot roughly 12km offshore and 30km from the resort town of Marsa Alam.
According to the tour operator Scuba Travel and Tornado Marine Fleet, which operated the diving boat, a fire broke out onboard at 8.30am local time during a diving briefing.
“It is with great regret that we, as the tour operator, with heavy hearts, must accept that three of our much-valued dive guests who had not participated in the dive briefing, early on the morning of June 11, perished in the tragic incident,” said Pat Adamson, a spokesperson for Scuba Travel, the British company that arranged the trip.
Mohamed Bendary, the secretary general of Egypt’s Red Sea governorate, stated that preliminary investigations suggested the blaze began in the boat’s engine room. The Hurricane is a “liveabord” vessel, designed to accommodate tourists for days at a time. When the fire occurred, the group had arranged to stay on the boat for a week.
“At the time the fire broke out 12 divers were participating in a briefing onboard, while those missing had apparently decided not to dive that morning. The severity of the fire meant that the 12 divers were immediately evacuated by boat to another craft nearby and the 14 crew members, including the captain and two dive guides, having tried to reach the missing guests, also had to abandon ship and were rescued,” said Adamson.
“The dive boat Hurricane is currently being towed to a port, yet to be nominated, as the vessel is still smouldering with cooling required before entry,” said Adamson.
Footage of the boat off the coast of the resort town of Marsa Alam showed fire engulfing both decks of the ship as smoke billowed into the air.
He added that Tornado Marine Fleet had maintained a strong safety record with Scuba UK. Tornado Marine Fleet, a company based in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el Sheikh offering trips onboard liveabord vessels, previously confirmed the incident and ongoing investigations, but did not respond when contacted concerning the deaths onboard the Hurricane or to discuss details of the vessel’s safety record.
In recent posts on Facebook, the company offered last-minute spaces onboard the Hurricane for diving excursions in the Red Sea in May and June. Pictures of the interior of the boat showed luxurious cabins with wood floors and walls, a dining room and living room lined with velvet banquettes and an onboard chef.
The 12 rescued divers were taken to Marsa Shagra, a village north of Marsa Alam, where they received medical attention and gave statements to police, as local authorities pledged to investigate the cause of the fire.
Scuba UK said the group was receiving consular assistance to return to the UK, after all of their personal possessions including passports were destroyed in the fire onboard the Hurricane.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office has been contacted for comment.
Egypt’s Red Sea resorts harbour some of the country’s most renowned beach destinations and are popular with holidaymakers. It has cemented its reputation as a dive destination with easy access to coral reefs from shores and dive sites offering diverse marine life. (Guardian)