17 missing after boat capsizes off Egypt's Red Sea coast

Seventeen people are missing Monday after a tourist boat capsized in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt. 

The Sea Story, a four-deck diving boat, sank near the Sataya Reef in the Red Sea south of the coastal town of Marsa Alam, a popular tourist destination in Egypt. The boat reportedly departed from Port Ghalib in Marsa Alam on Sunday for a five-day trip that would have finished in Hurghada Marina on Nov. 29.  

A distress call came in at around 5:30 a.m. local time on Monday. The Egyptian military coordinated rescue operations with the local government.  

Amr Hanafi, governor of Egypt’s Red Sea Governorate, said that rescuers saved 28 people from the boat Monday morning. Some of them were airlifted by a search-and-rescue helicopter from the Wadi el Gemal reserve area to receive medical attention. According to Hanafi, a total of 45 people were on board, including 31 tourists and 14 crew members.  

Hanafi did not specify the nationalities of the tourists, but Polish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pawel Wronski told Poland’s state news agency that two people on board may have been Polish citizens. 

Egyptian officials told Reuters on Monday that the Egyptian navy and army continued efforts to find the 17 people who remain missing, sweeping the area with a frigate and aircraft, but paused the search for the night at about 5:00 p.m. local time. 

While the cause of the boat’s sinking has not been determined, Al Ahram reported that the Egyptian Meteorological Authority on Saturday warned of weather on the Red Sea and advised against maritime activity for Sunday and Monday. Wave heights were predicted to reach 3-4 meters (10-13 feet). 

With its abundance of coral reefs, Egypt’s Red Sea coast is a popular tourist destination for divers. Yet many tourist companies operating similar routes on the Red Sea have halted or limited their operations over the past year amid the Houthi attacks on commercial ships in response to the Gaza war.