In an incident that provides some context into the sea conditions that may have sunk the MV Sea Story, a 100m cargo ship reportedly ran aground at El Quseir, 140km north of Marsa Alam, on the morning of Friday, 23 November.
Reports in the Egyptian media state that the 100m-long Comoros Islands-flagged VSG Glory crashed into the beach in front of the Mövenpick Resort in El Quseir while en route from Yemen to Port Tawfiq in Suez due to ‘strong winds, high waves, and a technical malfunction’.
The collision caused extensive damage to the coral reefs and fractured the hull, resulting in an oil leak from the engine room and causing the shop to tilt.
According to an Instagram post from HEPCA, the spillage was contained using 200m of rubber barriers and 100m of oil-absorbent booms.
Strong winds made attending to the ship difficult, however, and the crew were eventually evacuated before strong winds and large drove the ship further into the reef.
Reports surfacing on social media suggest that the protective barriers were blown apart during the high winds and oil has contaminated the reef and sea.
Egypt’s Minister of Environment, Yasmine Fouad, has travelled to El Quseir to assess the situation, saying that an action plan to clean the reef and minimise further damage is being developed.
Posts on social media currently indicate that the ship remains stranded. German diving magazine Taucher.net has posted a series of images and videos on social media showing the ship smashing into the reef.
It is not known if the search and rescue operation for Sea Story survivors is affecting the management of the VSG Glory situation, and there is very little information currently available.
