Five more passengers have been found alive following the sinking of the Egpytian Red Sea liveaboard Sea Story on Monday morning, bringing the total rescued to 33 of the 44 people that were on board. Sadly, four bodies have also been recovered.
The rescued passengers have been reported as a Finnish passenger, one Swiss, two Belgians and an Egyptian, although there is no information as yet as to whether or not the Egyptian is a member of the crew or one of four Egyptian tourists who were on board.
Two British divers are believed to be among the seven passengers still unaccounted for. Irish foreign affairs minister Micheál Martin said that the sole Irish passenger on board is ‘OK and receiving consular assistance from the Department of Foreign Affairs ‘.
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Sea Story sank near Sha’ab Sataya (also known as Dolphin Reef), off the coast of Marsa Alam, Egypt, on Monday morning carrying 44 passengers and crew.
A huge search and rescue operation involving the Egyptian Army and Navy was mounted after authorities received a distress call at about 5.30 am on Monday, 25 November, before all contact with the vessel was lost. The search was suspended overnight but resumed on Tuesday morning.
Sea Story departed from Port Ghalib on Sunday, 24 November on a tour scheduled to finish in Hurghada on 29 November. There were 31 passengers ‘of varying nationality’ on board, plus the Egyptian crew making a total of 44 – early reports said there had been 45 people on board.
According to statements from the Red Sea Governorate, 28 people were rescued before the search was suspended on Monday evening and received treatment for minor injuries, with none requiring hospitalisation.
Red Sea Governor Major General Amr Hanafi said some of the missing passengers were located and rescued near the Al-Ghadeer area of Wadi El Gamal and flown back to shore via military helicopter; others were picked up by the Egyptian Navy frigate Al-Fateh.
According to the Egyptian news website Masrawy, there were four British tourists on board and two Americans, with other nationalities including Belgian, Chinese, Egyptian, Finnish, German, Irish, Norwegian, Polish, Slovakian, Spanish and Swiss.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Egypt said that two Chinese citizens ‘were in good health’ after the rescue; a spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry said that they ‘have information that two of the tourists may have had Polish citizenship’, although he did not say if they were among the missing or had been rescued.
According to the BBC, a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office said they were ‘providing support to a number of British nationals and their families following an incident in Egypt’.
The 44m/144ft wooden-hulled Sea Story was owned by Hurghada-based Dive Pro Liveaboards. She was a new vessel built in 2022 and fitted out for 36 passengers in 18 cabins. The boat had passed a thorough safety inspection in March this year.
Do we know why Sea Story sank?
One of the survivors reportedly said Sea Story was ‘hit by a wave in the middle of the night, throwing the vessel on its side.’
The Egyptian Meteorological Authority had forecast rough conditions for the area on Saturday, with wind speeds between 60-70 kmh (37-43 mph) and waves reaching up to 4m in height.
Conditions had reportedly eased by the time the liveaboard set sail, before deteriorating again on Sunday evening.
Maj-Gen Hanafi confirmed that preliminary findings suggest the boat was struck by a large wave. He said that the sinking had taken as little as five to seven minutes, adding ‘some passengers were trapped inside cabins, so they couldn’t escape.’
The sea conditions were said to have been hampering the rescue efforts.
Sea Story is the second Dive Pro Liveaboard to have suffered a major incident this year, after a German woman went missing, presumed dead following a fire on board Sea Legend in February, and the fifth Red Sea liveaboard to be lost in 2024, following the sinkings of Nouran earlier in November, Seaduction in October and Exocet in June.
In June 2023, three British divers were killed when the popular liveaboard MV Hurricane caught fire.
Related stories
- Egyptian liveaboard MV Nouran catches fire and sinks at Daedalus reef
- Red Sea liveaboard Seaduction sinks in Egypt’s south; 18 divers rescued
- Popular French liveaboard, Exocet, sinks near Marsa Alam
- German woman missing, presumed dead, after Red Sea liveaboard fire disaster
- Three dead in Red Sea liveaboard MV Hurricane fire
