divers missing in egypt

[mikelegurra]

portuguese news agencies and agence france press have been running a story on missing divers in egypt. severall (i believe 12) portuguese, english and belgium divers have been missing and a plane spotted some people drifting some miles from the place where they went missing.

anybody has any information on this ?

 

[vjongene]

portuguese news agencies and agence france press have been running a story on missing divers in egypt. severall (i believe 12) portuguese, english and belgium divers have been missing and a plane spotted some people drifting some miles from the place where they went missing.

anybody has any information on this ?

This was in the Telegraph (quick Google search). I just heard about the story on the Swiss evening news. Maybe this thread should be moved to Incidents and Accidents?

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Britons missing on Red Sea dive trip
(Filed: 08/08/2004)


A group of five Britons are among 12 divers who have gone missing during a scuba expedition in Egypt's Red Sea.



The group, which also included five Portuguese and two Belgians, were reported missing on Saturday morning after they went diving near al-Quseir, a resort 205 miles south of the capital, Cairo.

The Foreign Office said that consular staff were urgently checking the details of the reports to establish the facts.

A police official said that the divers "went down and never surfaced." Helicopters, naval ships and rescue divers are searching the waters for the group.

The 12 were among a 22-strong group that was taken by boat from al-Quseir to an area near a small island called al-Akhawain.

The Red Sea is a popular destination for British divers.

 

[vjongene]

portuguese news agencies and agence france press have been running a story on missing divers in egypt. severall (i believe 12) portuguese, english and belgium divers have been missing and a plane spotted some people drifting some miles from the place where they went missing.

anybody has any information on this ?

Here is another story, from news.com.au in Australia. It turns out that the boat was the MY Oyster, on which I went to the Brothers in July last year!

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Divers lost in shark-infested sea
From correspondents in Cairo
August 9, 2004

TWELVE European tourists have gone missing on a diving cruise in the shark-infested waters of the Red Sea.

Egyptian police today said the divers included five Britons, five Portuguese and two Belgians.

They went missing yesterday off Quseir, near two Red Sea islands known as The Brothers.

Ten other tourists on the cruise had remained on the boat "The Oyster", police said.

An Egyptian army helicopter and 10 boats were scrambled for a search operation, but found no trace of the missing divers - neither personal belongings nor equipment.

 

[mikelegurra]

This was in the Telegraph (quick Google search). I just heard about the story on the Swiss evening news. Maybe this thread should be moved to Incidents and Accidents?

thanks.
i never even thought about the google search. i guess i thought about the place where people are more up to date when diving is concerned...

i'll run to google now.
thanks for your help.

 

[Rirarianneke]

Just read on the dutch TV-text that all 12 divers were found alive. It was not yet known why they never surfaced again. If any body has more news, pls let me know....I am going to that place (brothers) in 3 weeks time.

 

[vjongene]

Just read on the dutch TV-text that all 12 divers were found alive. It was not yet known why they never surfaced again. If any body has more news, pls let me know....I am going to that place (brothers) in 3 weeks time.

Yes, this now also appeared on the Web, from a South African news site. If this is true they drifted for 56 km before being found. I do wonder how on earth this could have happened...

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Missing Red Sea divers alive
08/08/2004 21:16 - (SA)


Cairo - Twelve foreign divers who went missing off Egypt's Red Sea coastline during a scuba expedition have been rescued, a government official said on Sunday.

An official at the Red Sea provincial official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Egyptian naval boats found and rescued the divers on Sunday after they were spotted in the water by a search helicopter.

The divers - five British, five Portuguese and two Belgians - were first reported missing on Saturday morning after they going diving near al-Quseir, a diving resort 330km south of the capital, Cairo.

The government official said they were spotted in the water 56km from al-Akhawain island, a dive spot where a charter boat had taken them a day earlier.

The official said the divers were bound for al-Quseir, where they are expected to be taken to a local hospital.

The 12 divers were among a 22-person dive group.

Egypt is a popular destination for divers from around the world.

 

[mania]

The place they were diving has extremly strong currents 2-3 meters/sec so my guess is that the current took them far away from the island - till they were finally found. Another thing that close to the island most of the currents split - one goes around the island allowing a lovely drift diving but the second goes out into the sea. To be honest quite a lot of divers think about the Red Sea as big, warm swimming pool with beautiful reef. It's a sea and a very strong one. In many places there are dangerous currents, many of them down ones - really dangerous when the bottom is more than 300 meters and a lot horizontal ones, taking diviers out of the reef into the blue.
Mania

 

[vjongene]

The place they were diving has extremly strong currents 2-3 meters/sec so my guess is that the current took them far away from the island - till they were finally found. Another thing that close to the island most of the currents split - one goes around the island allowing a lovely drift diving but the second goes out into the sea. To be honest quite a lot of divers think about the Red Sea as big, warm swimming pool with beautiful reef. It's a sea and a very strong one. In many places there are dangerous currents, many of them down ones - really dangerous when the bottom is more than 300 meters and a lot horizontal ones, taking diviers out of the reef into the blue.
Mania

Yes, I have dived the Brothers and know about the currents! They are wicked, and it would be relatively easy to be carried away from the walls and out to sea. It is still unbelievable to me that the crew of the Oyster would have totally failed to find twelve divers from the boat. SMBs are distributed to all divers, and most know how to deploy them, at least at the surface. The Oyster has two chase boats, and in my experience they are pretty good at spotting where the divers are. All I can think of is some sort of unexpected "monster current" having taken out the whole group in a direction that would be unpredictable from the surface. Scary!

 

[gehadoski]

I had experience about diving on brothers Island. As Mania said before Red Sea is not a big swimming pool. It Really calm but sometimes you will find that diving there is really tough and dangerous. In the north I mean in Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada, Dahab..etc; This places are not very dangerous it has smooth current and alot of diving spots. But in the south like Marsa Alam, Brothers Island, Elephant stone, Tedalus, Zabargad, These places in the south of Egypt in the red se. Most of them are Islands in middle of now where. Diving there require experience and fitness. Current in these places are either strong or very strong, the trick is the more you are closer to the reef the slower the current. Every boat go to these Islands the make people sign somthing called Liability realese and they check your logbook to make sure that you have more than 50 logged dives.
The accident that happened due to the current. In my opinion the senario was like this. The Zodiac (rubber boat) took the divers to the North tip where the dive begins, they the divers got drifted to with the current, after they hold for a while on that tip to watch the sharks. After they drifted with the current and that current where very strong. They Tried to reach the boat (at the south of that Island). To reach the boat you must go away from the reef, where the current is going stronger and stronger. Because the island is breaking some of the current. Here is the dangerous part, to get on the boat you have only one chance, if you miss it you are on your way in the blue. Really its fun but it is dangerous. If you go there be careful, you are diving in extreme conditions not in a swiming pool. I hope that MANIA read this and say if I am right or not. I am saying the truth not because it is my country.It is one of the most amazing dive site in the world

 

[mania]

I hope that MANIA and vjongene read this and say if I am right or not. I am saying the truth not because it is my country.It is one of the most amazing dive site in the world

Yeah I read this. It's true - Brothers Island is one of the most beautiful places but - as I also wrote at the beggining - not an easy place to dive. If any of you experienced strong currents (which is a common thing) in Thistlegorm - so they are almost nothing compare to what can be there - deep south of Egypt.

And I'll be in Sinai on Friday.....
I can't wait
Mania