This morning in Egypt ...

[scubaozy]

According to other press reports, the three who died had chosen not to dive that morning.

I think these were last dives of the trip, it is pretty common to do Elphinstone just before returning to Marsa Gharib. I fear they were asleep, so, question is, why did they not hear a smoke alarm or fire alarm. This makes me extremely sad..

There does seem to have been a number of incidents involving Red Sea liveaboards during recent months, no common theme amongst them. As someone said though there is a lot of liveaboards in the Red Sea - 175 are officially registered with the CDWS, probably another 50 unofficial ones.

So make the math, 175 x 40 wks (took out 3 months of dry dock), counting 2 incidents this year, the odds are currently 2/7000.
I have seen also good companies loosing their boats, so, there is always some risk even with the good crew but I think good crew will handle the emergencies better.
Continuing on previous estimation, in last 20 years 140 000 charters departed perhaps 10 burned with less than 10 fatalities. If I estimate that with 15 guests per trip, that would make 2.1 million / 10 fatalities.
Another problem I see is the age of the boats, they all go through several overhauls in their service lives, question is, whether electricity wiring is fully re-done as well.

the owner who is an ex Olympic swimming coach, rules his Arabs with an iron fist.

The "Russia" as a brand is hardly impressing me, given problems with doping in the Olympics . I am sure that it is a good company but it just did not land as good as its a "Swiss" or "German" brand.

Hi @azstinger11

I actually found 8 Red Sea accidents between 2004 and 2023, I counted one, twice. The information was not always easy to find and I would not take as absolutely correct. Others may know of additional incidents or details

View attachment 787631

Not complete, I know Heaven one sank in 2003 and Heaven Diamond sank in 2008, both burned iirc, without fatality. Heavens fleet back in the day was relatively upscale, German run business with German owners as well as guides. I can attest that it was run to very high standards, yes, they also lost their boats.

I think we are a little naive boarding a luxury LoB and feel invincible. Nope, these boats are extremely volatile and sometimes I wonder there are few accidents given the risks and complexity of the operation.
Overall, I am having a hard time to judge whether LoBs are safe or not, or things are much better elsewhere than Egypt. What is an accepted fatality rate that is considered safe enough?

 

[scubamoley]

Hi @azstinger11

I actually found 8 Red Sea accidents between 2004 and 2023, I counted one, twice. The information was not always easy to find and I would not take as absolutely correct. Others may know of additional incidents or details

View attachment 787631

There are more incidents, they just do their best to hide them. MV Whirlwind from the same fleet ran aground and started taking on water in August 2019. I was actually on Whirlwind when a diver was lost in November 2021. It broke down at the beginning of the trip, then stank of fuel in the cabins for the duration.
When it ran aground the crew seemed more interested in covering the boats name up with bed sheets (shown in photos online) to avoid bad publicity? After the diver was lost we were asked to not post anything on social media.
It's all about keeping the bad news stifled as much as possible.
I'm showing an interest in this thread as I have been on Hurricane several times in the past and was booked again this summer. Standards over there have plummeted and I'm not sure if that's to do with all European staff being let go or penny pinching since lockdown.

 

[bathbiggles2]

Hi @azstinger11

I actually found 8 Red Sea accidents between 2004 and 2023, I counted one, twice. The information was not always easy to find and I would not take as absolutely correct. Others may know of additional incidents or details

View attachment 787631

I think Emperor Fraser is missing from the list. It sank in 2009 I believe.

I had dived on that boat and have also been on Hurricane twice. It was a lovely boat and was voted Liveaboard of the year several times. It was a solid steel hull vessel - and it just shows that accidents can happen to any boat.

I now always book upstairs cabins. I just returned from a trip on Emperor Explorer and the main deck cabins were £300 pp more. I suspect that differential will only increase after this tragedy.

Good advice from DandyDon also. I will definitely include a smoke and CO alarm in my luggage next time!

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

I think Emperor Fraser is missing from the list. It sank in 2009 I believe.

I had dived on that boat and have also been on Hurricane twice. It was a lovely boat and was voted Liveaboard of the year several times. It was a solid steel hull vessel - and it just shows that accidents can happen to any boat.

Fraser did indeed sink - I can't remember what year but vaguely recall that it hit a reef somewhere near Sharm from memory.

Can you the layout of the Hurricane as far as possible escape routes to get from the below deck cabins to safety?

 

[scubamoley]

Fraser did indeed sink - I can't remember what year but vaguely recall that it hit a reef somewhere near Sharm from memory.

Can you the layout of the Hurricane as far as possible escape routes to get from the below deck cabins to safety?

Below deck escape hatch is via one of the front cabins. They mention in the boat briefing but I've not actually seen it myself or checked it as it means crashing into someone else's cabin. The main stairs are just forward of the rear 2 cabins which are at the back next to the engine room wall.

 

[bathbiggles2]

Fraser did indeed sink - I can't remember what year but vaguely recall that it hit a reef somewhere near Sharm from memory.

Can you the layout of the Hurricane as far as possible escape routes to get from the below deck cabins to safety?

I can't remember the layout on Hurricane for the escape hatch (they all blurr into one after a while) - but most are a forward hatch. I still wouldn't fancy trying to get to that in a smoke filled corridor below the waterline though.

 

[Angelo Farina]

This thread is now 12 pages long and I missed reading everything.
So, were the 3 lost British tourists found? Hopefully alive?

 

[chillyinCanada]

This thread is now 12 pages long and I missed reading everything.
So, were the 3 lost British tourists found? Hopefully alive?

No, they perished in the fire. They had chosen not to dive that morning and may have been asleep in their cabin.

 

[Angelo Farina]

No, they perished in the fire. They had chosen not to dive that morning and may have been asleep in their cabin.

Sad news.
I am very sorry for them and their families.

 

[Dan]

This thread is now 12 pages long and I missed reading everything.
So, were the 3 lost British tourists found? Hopefully alive?

It was the last day of diving. Some divers (3 out of 15), perhaps having early flight home on the next day, or had enough diving for the week, or whatever excuse they had, decided to sleep in. In the early part of the video, smokes already started to seep to the bow area, before fire began to flare over the stern dive deck area, it’s too late for crew to rescue those people in the bottom cabin. In the future, perhaps it’s good to have a full face mask with SCBA like fire fighters use to rescue people from burning building.