An estimate of the Sea Story accident and where tourists were rescued on the second day in the wreck. See the region of the accident on Google Earth here.
On November 25, a dive boat called Sea Story with 44 souls capsized an estimated 18 nautical miles south of Marsa Alam, Egypt on the Red Sea. Some were rescued within half a day from rescue boats and the Navy. on November 25 Another 5 people were rescued the following day, some 36 hours after capsizing. Rescue divers went down and pulled 5 living people and 4 bodies from the wreck. Seven people are still missing. In total, 11 people lost their lives on this dive boat.
There are rumors that suggest that some people may have been trapped inside the wreck for the next few days after rescue on November 26 but the divers may have been too afraid to enter the wreck for the sharks circling the craft. Others connected to the rescue say this is nonsense. That the boat was searched from room to room on November 26. Here is a rescue story from one of the rescue team here (in Arabic).
Whatever the rumors, in a sad turn of events a boat of rescue divers were within a “30 minutes” boat ride and they could have assisted in the operation, one diver wrote, after seeing the outcome.
Several naval vessels and aircraft from the Search and Rescue Center participated in the rescue operation for the missing tourists after the Sea Story accident in the Red Sea. Press handout
“At the time of the accident we were 30 minutes from the See Story boat full of professional technical divers with experience in salvaging from a sunken ship. One phone call and everything was different,” says Radik Simic in a popular Scuba diving Facebook group.
The families of those lost and those surviving still do not have accountability and closure. “What about foreign embassies and ambassadors? They should be responding because that’s what they’re paid to do. I don’t know what countries the divers were from to assist with this. Feeling incredibly sad to hear these obstacles impeding getting information, accountability and closure,” says one commenter on a recent article we posted to a Scuba diving group.
Could there have been a better outcome if dive boats and rescue divers are connected to a global alerts system? Can there be an app for that? How about a Whatsapp or Telegram chat group (international and country based) so that rescue divers the world over can get a call and rescue when in need? What diving group wants to start such an initiative?
All the Sea Story articles, including a story from a survivor can be found here.
If you have any new details about the Sea Story accident, please email [email protected]
An alert went out that a boat was in distress 18 nautical miles from Marsa Alam, which could be a radius that went out any 18 miles out from Marsa Alam. Other news reports from Egypt say the boat was 46 nautical miles south of Marsa Alam.
American diver Jeffy Lee has travelled to Egypt: “It makes my blood boil at the fact that a few of us even had knowledge of such a catastrophic event and I personally found out about it from this group,” he says. “None of the media even gave two shits about the incident because it wasn’t an exciting “story” for them. Eleven lives were lost, and could have been prevented had it not been the ignorance and failure to follow standard protocols.
Author: Karin Kloosterman
Karin Kloosterman is an award-winning journalist and publisher that founded Green Prophet to unite a prosperous Middle East. She shows through her work that positive, inspiring dialogue creates action that impacts people, business and planet. She has published in thought-leading newspapers and magazines globally, owns an IoT tech chip patent, and is part of teams that build world-changing products to make agriculture and our planet more sustainable. Reach out directly to [email protected]
