Fire on safari boat Suzana in Egypt (Red Sea Aggressor)

[ReefHound]

I have a deposit down on the Red Sea Aggressor I for next June. In light of events and the fact that the boat doesn't exist anymore, I have shot off an e-mail to Aggressor requesting a refund of my deposit.

Would it matter to you if they were able to acquire another boat and provide the trip? Or do you no longer wish to visit the Red Sea or do business with Aggressor?

 

[John Bantin]

[EDIT: Just took a look at the MY Royal Evolution which is the main reason I'll be in that area in the spring. Saloon and all cabins are fully sprinklered plus smoke detector and fire extinguisher in each room. I suspect these sort of things will start showing up on more and more marketing materials.]

MY Royal Evolution is one of the few diving liveaboards licensed for international carriage of passengers (because it often travels from Egypt to Sudan and back) and meets SOLAS regulations.

 

[Dogbowl]

According to Aggressor, the lady who went missing did go back to her cabin to retrieve something.

See third post by @tursiops :

Red Sea liveaboard fire

 

[Trailboss123]

Would it matter to you if they were able to acquire another boat and provide the trip? Or do you no longer wish to visit the Red Sea or do business with Aggressor?

That's a good question. Personally, I still have a strong interest in diving the Red Sea and will at some point- I only have a desire to do it on a liveaboard and not land based though. I have no issue with Aggressor. I have not had a bad experience with them personally and we don't know the details yet about this particular incident, so time will tell.

My wife was on the edge after the Conception fire- we had just been on that boat for 4 days/nights earlier this year. This incident pushed her right over the edge and out of her comfort zone for liveaboards. It is/was to be a week+ on land seeing the sights and 1 week on the boat diving, for our 35 year anniversary. She just doesn't want to do it now.

 

[Fred2019]

The reports provided provided by the dive boat staff is incorrect and may be intended to limit their liability. Eyewitness accounts from other divers refuted the claim that the diver tried to save any personal items.

 

[Fred2019]

Not in any I posted. I did see that in the second link Miyaru posted. Ok, poor journalism aside in the first news story, I suppose it was a dive boat. It seems that the crew were heroic in saving all that followed escape instructions. It's unfortunate that one didn't, if that claim is correct that she went back to save her laptop.

"The reports provided provided by the dive boat staff is incorrect and may be intended to limit their liability. Eyewitness accounts from other divers refuted the claim that the diver tried to save any personal items. A member of that group has already verified this version of the story."

 

[Antho]

"The reports provided provided by the dive boat staff is incorrect and may be intended to limit their liability. Eyewitness accounts from other divers refuted the claim that the diver tried to save any personal items. A member of that group has already verified this version of the story."

I did not see her at all that night, so I can’t tell what happened to her. I just said that, wherever the information came from, we did not say that she came back to get her laptop (people more familiar with her on the boat mention the fact that she did not have a laptop), and we did not see her out of the cabins.
For the rest, the investigation will help understand, I hope, what happened.

To answer previous comments, yes the boat was equipped with smoke detectors, but for a reason none of them worked that night.
And life vests were not in the cabins but on the upper deck, as the crew explained to us in the safety briefing.

 

[DandyDon]

I guess we can't trust overnight charters to keep a crew member on firewatch and smoke & CO alarms in every room. It now seems foolish to go on one without taking your own smoke & CO alarm. $17, 0.6 pounds - why not? https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sale-War...1-manufacture-2-Detector-Alarm-Gas-/828081217

 

[Dogbowl]

I guess we can't trust overnight charters to keep a crew member on firewatch and smoke & CO alarms in every room. It now seems foolish to go on one without taking your own smoke & CO alarm. $17, 0.6 pounds - why not? https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sale-War...1-manufacture-2-Detector-Alarm-Gas-/828081217

Any chance one of these things could get confused for an explosive device by airport security?

 

[DandyDon]

Any chance one of these things could get confused for an explosive device by airport security?

I'd remove the battery until I got to my room.