An Egyptian tourist boat has sunk in the Red Sea off Jabal Al-Zeit, north of Hurghada, with six crew members on board.
According to
local reports, the boat was travelling from ‘Rashid’ – presumably Port Rashid, east of the city of Alexandria on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast – where it had been undergoing maintenance.
Initial reports say the vessel capsized in rough weather on Thursday afternoon.
Four crew members were rescued quickly by search and rescue teams from the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company (Gapco), after a distress signal was received by Red Sea Governorate authorities.
The remaining two members of the crew were recovered after search and rescue operations continued
Reports have named the vessel as ‘
Tri Ton‘, however, there is no indication as to whether or not the vessel is a dive boat or liveaboard, and – at the time of publishing – Internet searching has turned up no results for dive boats operating under this particular name.
The sinking comes on the same day that the UK Government
issued a safety warning over Egyptian dive boats following the
Sea Story disaster, and marks the eighth ‘tourist boat’ to be lost in just two years.
divemagazine.com
