Seventeen people, passengers of a tourist boat, disappeared on Monday, November 25 after a shipwreck in the Red Sea off the Egyptian coast, authorities announced. Twenty-eight other people were also rescued. The ship, which carried “thirty-one tourists of different nationalities as well as fourteen crew members”It launched distress signals at 5:30 local time (4:30 Paris time), according to a statement from the Red Sea governorate.
HE History of the seaA specialized diving cruise ship set sail on Sunday from Port Ghalib, in southeastern Egypt, for a multi-day expedition. It was due to arrive on Friday in Hurghada, 200 kilometers further north.
The region’s governor, Amr Hanafi, said survivors were rescued during an air operation, while others were evacuated aboard a military ship. “The investigation continues actively in collaboration with the navy and armed forces”he said in a press release. Authorities have not revealed the nationalities of the tourists on board. The cause of the sinking was not immediately clear, but Egyptian meteorological authorities had warned of turbulence and high waves in the Red Sea on Saturday, according to the Associated Press news agency, and advised against any activity on Sunday and Monday.
Tourism contributes more than 10% of Egypt’s GDP
The Red Sea, one of Egypt’s top tourist destinations, attracts millions of visitors each year. The tourism sector, crucial for this country of 105 million inhabitants in the midst of the economic crisis, employs around 2 million people and contributes more than 10% of its GDP.
Monday’s accident is at least the third of its kind reported this year near Marsa Alam on the Red Sea. In early November, 30 people were rescued from a sinking dive boat near the famous Daedalus Reef. In June, around twenty French tourists were evacuated unharmed before their boat sank in a similar accident.
A year earlier, three British tourists lost their lives when a fire reduced their yacht to ashes. Every day, dozens of dive boats explore the coral reefs and islands off Egypt’s eastern coast, where strict safety regulations are unevenly enforced.
