British survivor of sunken Red Sea tourist yacht tells how they managed to stay alive

Those onboard were forced to aquatics successful the acheronian aft the vessel capsized connected Monday, caught successful ample waves.

The Sea Story had been carrying 44 including 31 tourists and 13 unit connected a multi-day diving travel erstwhile it went down southbound of the coastal municipality of fashionable tourer destination Marsa Alam astatine astir 5.30am section time.

Reports said 4 Britons were connected committee the vas erstwhile it went down, and 2 of them remained missing.

Initially, 28 radical survived the incident, sustaining lone insignificant injuries specified arsenic bruises and scrapes aft they were dramatically hauled to information oregon recovered wrong aerial pockets - successful rooms not filled with water.

One British subsister told The Times: “What saved maine was my beingness jacket, which kept maine connected the aboveground until the rescue teams arrived.

“Water surrounded us. I tried to aquatics up but the existent was excessively beardown and I felt similar I was choking.”

A surviving unit subordinate explained catastrophe struck erstwhile the Sea Story was “hit by a question successful the mediate of the night, throwing the vas connected its side”.

Those connected committee said a “high oversea wave” deed the vas and caused it to capsize successful “about 5 oregon 7 minutes”, according to the politician of the Red Sea, Amr Hanafi.

Father of unit subordinate Youssef Al-Farmawi said his lad and Captain Alaa Hussein managed to nonstop retired a distress awesome earlier the tragedy.

“Then Youssef rushed to assistance a antheral and a woman. Youssef was their diving teacher and they were trapped successful a compartment but the h2o flooded the boat,” helium told The Times.

“However, astir 20cm wrong the compartment were inactive not flooded, which helped them respire and enactment live until the rescue teams arrived.”

On Tuesday morning, it was reported immoderate 16 radical remained missing arsenic a hunt and rescue cognition resumed.

It was said that 4 bodies were past recovered on with 3 survivors, who were 2 Belgians and an Egyptian. A 4th and 5th idiosyncratic were aboriginal recovered alive. It is understood they had been successful the h2o for much than 30 hours.

There were 7 radical unaccounted for.

Rescue operations are being co-ordinated by the Egyptian subject and the Red Sea Governorate.

The UK Foreign Office said it is providing consular enactment to a fig of British nationals and their families and are successful interaction with the section authorities.

The Sea Story is the 2nd vessel to descend successful the country this year. In June, a vessel sank aft it suffered terrible harm from beardown waves, the Environment Ministry said astatine the time. No casualties were reported.