Divers missing near Marsa Alam?

[WetFatCat]

Here is a translation of the survivor's story from
http://monfornot.livejournal.com/22218.html (part 1)

I tried to translate as close to original as I can. Names are changed to letters. Measures converted to Imperial. Sorry for not perfect English.
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Dive at Elfstone.

There were 8 peoples in our group – P, J, me, D, L, M (from Netherlands), A1 and A2 (dad and son). I and D were finishing AOW class by L supervision, M was AOW, L was an instructor (PADI and other agencies). There was just one night dive to finish our AOW class. We planned to do it at the end of that day. L asked P and J not to go with us because they weren’t skilled enough.
On Saturday, January the 6th we planned two morning dives at the Elfstone reef that is 6 miles from shore, shore dive after lunch and a night dive. We planned live the camping at 5:45 AM in the case of acceptable weather.
See was relatively calm and wing was weak when we got up and went for the coffee at 5:30 AM. There was nobody of camping staff around. We waited till 6 AM and went to find somebody. Then just waked up arabic person appeared an said that he was informed about departure at 6:15 AM. We grumbled a bit and went to our cabins to get warm. With median day temperature of 62 and wind it’s cold in early morning even in Egypt.
We done our suits in cabins, it’s warmer to ride a car in suits. All of us had 5mm wetsuits. L had own suit, D rented it in Moscow and I and M rented in the camping. L gave her 1mm warmer to J so only M had a warmer. I asked staff about a hood but they said that they haven’t one. Well, so be it. D had gloves. I don’t know what suit our guide (named G) had, but he had hood and gloves.
About 7 AM we gathered near cabin where our gear stored and started to move gear into a car. BCs and tanks were prepared from the previous night. At 7:15 AM, when we were about to leave, Emad, manager and owner of the camping (“Beach Safari”), came and swear staff for being late.
The boat stayed at the Egla beach about 1 – 2 miles to the south from the camping. It was about 100 feet from a shore line and while G swam for the boat we jumped around the beach to get warm. It was 6-8 person boat with strong hull, not inflatable Zodiac. We moved all the gear and tanks to the boat and started. It was a joy to jump around waves at first 10-15 minutes but then it turned to be a kind of extreme. I stood in the cockpit near a driver and had to wipe water out of my face to see how we jumped from wave to wave. Everything was wet even our breakfast in the bow box. Driver and G told to each other and L said that they could turn back. Driver was pretty good, he accelerated in proper time to avoid strong bumps by the boat’s belly.
We moved to North-East. Near the reef (it looks like belt of white foam) ahead of us we saw a large yacht. When we reached the reef I saw 2-3 Zodiacs that rolled around and, as I understood, waited for their divers. Driver and G had a short conversation with those Zodiacs’ drivers.
L told to G in English, I didn’t listen to them. Then in Russian she told to us that we gong to make the first dive along East wall of the reef starting at the middle of the reef at 80 feet. There could be sharks in the North part. Boat had to drift with the current and pick us after ascent. We don our gear (masks, fins, BCs with tanks) with difficulty and sat at the boards trying not to fall overboard too early. Rocking was hard. Driver get the boat closer to the reef and we fell out by his command. Showed OK and submerged. It was 9 AM.
Immediately we found a strong northbound current, opposite to waves’ direction. I tried to relax and estimate current’s speed and found that it’s about 2 feet per second. Looked at the G, he tried to catch hold of reef and fix something in his BC. I was not pleased because saw him doing the same a day before at House reef where he trampled and damaged corals. Continuing descent I looked at the fishes and noticed how D took pictures of something. Somebody, probably M, pointed away from the reef and I saw large fishes, apparently sharks, in the distance. G swam away of reef descending. Keeping near him I looked above. There was L about 13 feet above me and she showed us to go up and don’t go deeper. They said later that she was at 130 feet that time. I looked around and found others. Downward I saw reef’s spur in the deep and the wall was not visible already. Some time we swam along this spur trying to return to the wall at about 80 feet. I looked for everybody again and saw M who was about 15 feet above all group, he waved and pointed to his SPG. I thought he asks about rest of air and pointed L and D to him then looked at my SPG. When I looked at M again he breathed from D octo already. I swam to them and looked at D SPG, he had just 700 PSI. I showed to D that I had 2000 PSI and suggested my octo to M. But M didn’t see this and they ascended rapidly. I followed them to 12 feet and when I was sure that D and M reached surface I returned back to L and G. When I approach L she gave me “crasy” sign and I show her that two had surfaced. G set a buoy and started ascent. I grab L and we ascended by her computer. We did two stops and tried to be close to G. He ascended much faster then us and we all surfaced about 9:30 AM.

 

[WetFatCat]

Translation of the survivor's story from
http://monfornot.livejournal.com/22218.html (part 2)

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At the surface we first of all gathered together and grabbed each others hands. Only g swam at about 20 feet with inflated buoy. We didn’t see any boat. There was a yacht at 1000-1300 feet, I think the same we saw before. We waived and yelled to them but then understood that we were drifting away. Oriented ourselves a bit we decided to swim toward shore that was visible to avoid freezing until we be found. I had to say that we didn’t see rescue boats at all that day.
G said us ditch weights and we did. Then we discussed DCS and it’s symptoms a bit. I thought that D and M worried most of others, they ascended too fast. M said that he was OOA and he could not inflate BC. He was scared to fall down to depth and felt in panic. D said in Russian that M breathed very hard and D literally heard how air comes out from the tank. L swore at as that we come too deep. Then we postponed analysis because our first goal was to get out from the situation. G swam not far from me and as it seemed to me throw out the buoy. I and L grabbed it then L rolled it and put it away.
Somebody suggested dropping tanks and we decided to try. L was not able to detach regulator from my tank so I detached her reg and then M reg. Tanks had positive buoyancy. When we tried to swim at back without tank guys found that not comfortable and we returned tanks back but didn’t attach regulators.
Sun was hot and time passed slowly. We hold at the hands and swam backward. Sometimes we turned forward in try to see the nearest shore point and have a rest. Waves were about 3-6 feet. It was hard to keep body in sitting position – belly muscles were tired a lot. M swam at the back and it his condition was hard to determine but he kicked constantly. We told and made jokes about if we even die than it would be in a good company. We decided that everybody ho gonna dive needs a computer and I and D wanted to buy computers as soon as we get out.
Approximately at the middle of day we noticed divers’ yacht. She went to south approximately in 1600 feet to east from us. She didn’t react to yells and waving by fins and buoy. I suggested L to swim to yacht without BC and she commanded to take it off. After swimming about 150 feet I lost the yacht and then found her far away. She went out fast by the engine. I returned to others and we continued our journey to a shore. G still swam separately but in a time he approached to us and asked to be included into our chain. At first he was at the edge left to M but when G started falling asleep we put him between M and D.
I tried to find something at the shore and swim to this point. I found high antennal mast and we started to swim toward it. I tried to show to G where we were going, he fell asleep all the time and loose direction but he didn’t understand me because of poor English or because of been tired. Shore approached and this made me optimistic. I said in English that we would be at the shore in 4 hours but M said silently “So without me”. That worried me.
Sun was close to horizon behind our backs. Everybody kicked much weaker and it seemed that we didn’t move at all. It was too pity to realize that last power went to nowhere. And we didn’t see any rescue attempts that made me angry. It became hard to think. Sun set and while not dark we started to look for lights at the shore. There was small tower near the mast that looked like lighthouse and a red light blinked at the top of it.
In the dusk I noticed a ship at the right, at south. Yelling, waving by yellow fins and by buoy didn’t help us. We yelled at 1-2-3 and I strained my voice. Then we guessed that we could use camera’s flash but too late. Taking pictures of ships stern didn’t help as well. Ship passed in 300 feet of us and went to the north. L started to cry. I’d never saw crying L before.
We started to swim to the tower again but distance wasn’t shortening. It became clear that we couldn’t make these 2-3 miles before low tide. I read before how useless to fight the tide. In half an hour I asked l if I swam to the shore alone and sent boats. She asked if I was sure. I said that I would not drown in the suit and there no difference where to be freeze to death. Others didn’t take part in discussion. G felt asleep and D with M kicked slowly. At that moment I thought that it was the only right decision to swim to shore. I felt enough power to do that but didn’t see enough power in others. I took off BC with tank got mask from L and started to swim. It was about 6 PM.
I swab by breast strokes toward the tower. Jellyfish stung me at right hand and it began to burn. I didn’t care about black water abyss below me. Waves didn’t close flashing light any more and I saw cars’ headlights at the highway. But the distance stopped to shorten. May be it was some current. I was near to give up but started to swim to the next tower at the north. I turned to my back hug myself with my arms and started to swim slowly. I looked at starts and told with them. Sometimes I turned and tried to evaluate distance to the shore. In two hours after I started my solo I noticed a light above the sea approximately at the point where I separated from my friends. It looked like floodlight directed upward and I even thought that some ship had found my friends but in minuted I realized that it was a moonrise.
I felt asleep couple of times while I swam. Thinking out reasons to live I kicked with my tired legs. When I looked at the shore another time I understood how close it was and realized that I would make that. I started strokes and in some time saw bottom. With a relief I got to a shore reef. I got off fins and went to buildings. It was about 9 PM.
The buildings happen to be a Badawia hotel. I found two persons in a restaurant and started to tell them everything. In 10 minutes there were 15 persons they gave me closes to change. Man from police (as I understood later) asked if I was able to ride at a boat and I said I was. We sat to a car and fooled around for some time. They gave me a phone and I described guiding to the place where I separated from the friends. Then Emad arrived and they got me to the hospital instead of boat and tested me about an hour. When I insisted to be at the boat they got me to a pier and said that boat left 10 minutes ago. I was unable to think any more and felt asleep in the hospital where they got me back. They said that they would get my friends to the same hospital as soon as would find them.
In the morning I didn’t see anybody in the hospital and asked to drive me to Beach Safari. After I arrived P and J went to the nearest hotel to call Consulate and insurance.

 

[mislav]

Thank you for your effort, WetFatCat. Amazing story.

Perhaps it was the subsurface current opposite to the direction of the waves, what initially sent the search teams to look for the missing divers in the wrong part of the sea.

It's all so sad really. My condolences to the families and friends of the divers.

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

WetFatCat, thank you for taking the time to do the translation for us. Very sad story for these poor souls. My thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family.

 

[ofleisher]

Another part of this sad story is the operator point of view....
www.**********/

 

[ofleisher]

Another part of this sad story is the operator point of view....
http://www.**********

-

 

[Jcsgt]

Sorry, but the link doesn't work.

 

[ofleisher]

No idea why SB not taking URL's but this from CDNN web sites simply click it and than
.info

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

take out the spaces to link to the article hat ofleisher tried to link to:

http://www. cdnn. info /news /safety/s070118.html

 

[Jcsgt]

Thanks, that's really weird about the links.

Wouldn't it be nice if we were all issued EPIRB's by dive op's? I'm seriously considering getting my own personal beacon device after the thread you started about Monday morning quarterbacking.