What happened to the Red Sea tourist boat? A visual guide to the sinking

Using interviews with survivors, rescuers and information from local sources, The Times has reconstructed the sinking of Sea Story.

Distress call

It was “pitch black” just after 5am on the open sea when the vessel was struck by an “abnormally huge” wave, about 46 nautical miles from the shores of Marsa Alam, according to one witness on board.

The four-metre wall of water, combined with strong winds, is said to have toppled the 13m wooden-hulled boat in less than seven minutes as passengers screamed from their cabins and crew fought to keep it afloat.

Youssef Al-Faramawi and Alaa Hussein, two diving instructors aboard the yacht, are said to have sprung into action as it became clear the vessel would soon be submerged. Al-Faramawi’s father said that his son sent out a distress call to the Red Sea Governorate Control Centre shortly after 5.30am, before rushing below deck to help trapped tourists.

As the boat capsized, most of the 44 people aboard escaped into the open water or entered a life raft. Others, including Al-Faramawi, were stuck in cabins and rooms.

Arrival of rescuers

After communication was lost with the yacht, a widespread search was triggered involving the Egyptian army, navy and a nearby tourist boat, Star Jet, which raced to the rescue.

The teams travelled more than 50km to the last location that the boat had pinged its coordinates, where they found 28 people — including Britons Colin Sharratt, 65, and Sally Jones, 65 — still alive.

The Times understands that six of the tourists, including the two Britons, were treated at a hospital in Marsa Alam, along with three Egyptian crewmen.

Sharratt and Jones, seasoned sailors who have spent their retirement voyaging around the world while crewing on private boats, discharged themselves from hospital in Marsa Alam, against medical advice to rest.

Egyptian investigators interviewed the survivors to start piecing together what had happened. One of the British survivors recalled the boat sinking in the dark and water “choking” them as they were kept afloat by their life jacket.

A professional diver who was on deck said: “I heard screams from inside the cabins, but many couldn’t get out because the doors were closed and the place was filling with water.”

As night fell on the Red Sea, the authorities paused searches. With hopes for the others fast fading, one manager of a diving resort said it was increasingly unlikely that those still missing after the 12-hour search, involving a warship and military aircraft, would be found alive.

Thirty hours underwater

On Tuesday morning, the search resumed. In the afternoon, Egyptian naval forces rescued five people from the sunken yacht who had managed to survive for 30 hours thanks to tiny air pockets inside their cabins.

Al-Faramawi, the diver who had gone below deck to help trapped tourists, was among those still alive.

His father said earlier this week: “Youssef was their diving instructor and they were trapped in a cabin but the water flooded the boat. However, about 20cm inside the cabin were still not flooded, which helped them breathe and stay alive until the rescue teams arrived.”

Christophe Lemmens and Lucianna Galetta, two Belgian tourists and experienced diving instructors, were rescued after surviving in an air pocket in the ship’s hull for 35 hours.

Footage they filmed as the water slowly rose around them showed floating furniture and debris. A stash of crisp packets and bottled water helped them survive until their rescue.

Not all those recovered on Tuesday had survived. Four bodies were pulled from the water. Two were identified as German tourists and one was a Slovakian firefighter, named by local media as Michal Maliarik. Egyptian newspapers reported that the fourth fatality was the crew member, Hussein.

A forensic report into the deaths of the three tourists found that the cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning, leading to cardiac arrest, according to Egyptian media.

Searching the sea

One of the three divers involved in the rescue operation revealed on Friday that teams found sharks circling the wreck as they scanned it for survivors.

Kattab Al-Faramawi, Youssef’s uncle, said the boat was submerged in open water at a depth of 12 metres, with only about 40cm of the hull visible on the surface. “We handled the situation carefully because if air in the floating part was released, the boat could sink further down,” he said.

The first person they found in a cabin in the hull was Youssef Al-Faramawi, who informed them that more individuals were still alive inside.

With a frigate from the Egyptian navy waiting on the surface to receive survivors, the divers descended to the same spot and located two other people. Subsequent searches of the boat’s rooms and passages revealed two more people, as well as the four bodies.

Al-Faramawi added that sharks complicated the operation, as they had been drawn to the area by the scent of food inside the vessel. The team divided into two groups: one tasked with diverting the predators, the other focused on diving inside to continue searching.

“From our experience, we know that when we shine a light on the face of the long shark, it moves away. So, every time they got closer, we directed the spotlights at it,” Al-Faramawi said.

The warning signs

Dive Pro Liveaboard, the Sea Story’s operator, has now lost three boats in as many years.

In April 2022, the yacht Scuba Scene caught fire while out in the Red Sea, resulting in 36 people fleeing as the boat sank.

In February this year, the Sea Legend sank following a fire. Passengers were ordered to evacuate the boat within ten minutes. A German woman, 50, was later confirmed dead.

After the incident passengers on the Sea Legend complained about the safety protocols, claiming that smoke and fire alarms were not working, flares were not deployed and that the boat did not have enough life jackets.

Their concerns were echoed by concerned customers who posted negative reviews years before Dive Pro Liveaboard’s first known disaster, claiming that the company would not change their plans when they encountered bad weather.

Multiple people raised concerns about the safety protocols, claiming that there were faulty fire alarms and smoke detectors, empty fire extinguishers and that life jackets were not mentioned during the on-board safety briefing.

Christian Proschek, a tourist who went on a trip three years ago, alleged that the crew ignored and played down “very bad weather, winds up to storm strength and waves several meters high”.

“The first night out on the sea were ten hours straight of waves that made beds, furniture and guests fly through the cabins. One zodiac and one diving ladder were destroyed through this night. But, no one acknowledged this as even unusual circumstances,” he wrote.

“The week continued like this and as a group of us tried to leave the ship a few days later because of exhaustion and disappointment, we were denied it with at least questionable bureaucratic reasons so that we had to endure this until the end of the week.”

Dive Pro Liveaboard did not respond to a request for comment regarding the safety concerns.

Rescue mission expands to open sea

The adventure voyage had been due to end on Friday afternoon, with Sea Story docking at Hurghada port as the sun set over the coastal city.

Instead, rescue efforts, which on Thursday were expanded to the open sea, were called off for the day as seven people, including two Britons, Tarig Sinada, 49, a software engineer, and Jennefer Cawson, 36, remained missing.

The couple, who live in Ashburton, near Newton Abbot in Devon, are reported to have previously worked as scuba instructors in southeast Asia. Boats and aerial reconnaissance units are now scouring the sea for signs of survivors.

But as the Egyptian military runs the search operation from The Red Sea Diving Safari in Marsa Nakari, hopes are fading with every passing hour.