'There was no plan of escape': Divers aboard vessel run by firm operating Red Sea tourist boat flag safety fears
28 November 2024, 12:57
Experienced divers who worked about a boat run by the firm operating an ill-fated Red Sea tourist boat have flagged safety fears over the running of the vessel.
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Voicing their concerns over safety measures aboard the vessel, they highlighted that a lack of precautions where safety hazards aboard a similar yacht were concerned - including crew smoking near pressurised gas cannisters.
On Monday, the 44-metre yacht known as Sea Story, owned by Dive pro Liveabroad in Hurghada, Egypt, sank in the Red Sea.
Sea Story went down in the middle of a multi-day diving trip close to the Egyptian coastal town of Marta Alam.
Rescue teams in Egypt have so far found five tourists alive 30 hours after their luxury boat sank in the Red Sea after being 'hit by a huge wave'.
Timothy, an experienced diver, raised concerns about "boat safety standards" on the Sea Pearl boat, highlighting that there was no life jacket drills, no centralised communication or means of raising an alarm in case of emergency.
"The Egyptian government has robust safety standards, but there's very little enforcement," he told Sky News.
"We weren't told how to deploy the life rafts or anything like that. That's not specific to Dive Pro - this would be common across the industry here.
"They didn't say, 'familiarise yourself with your life jackets in your room'," he explained.
Thirty-three people travelling aboard the vessel have been rescued, with seven still missing, including two Britons.
The Sea Story tourist boat made a distress call before dawn on Monday that a 'high sea wave' had hit the boat, causing it to capsize in a matter of minutes.
One diver named Timothy added: "When [they] went to the crew and asked for another one, they said 'it's fine, we have plenty of them in the crew quarters."
"That's an example of the kind of corner-cutting that I was referring to."
"I found that the staff were smoking cigarettes on the dive deck where we have compressed oxygen cylinders - you know, risk of a massive explosion."
When asked about if there was a safety plan put in place he said: "Absolutely not. There was no plan of escape."
An emergency escape hatch was accessible but Timothy said "it wasn't pointed out to us how to open it".
He added: "We found it ourselves. It's only approximately a metre square - so it would be only one person at a time.
"And imagine if the boat was inverted in the dark. Some of the divers were relatively elderly.'
"There was no emergency drill at all. They just said there are life jackets in all the cabins, but it turns out that wasn't the case."
James, another qualified diver, told Sky News: "Safety didn't feel paramount. It didn't feel like it was the most important thing to Dive Pro, operating the Sea Pearl.
"We arrived at the boats and on the Saturday, nobody kind of said, 'hi, I'm such and such'. They basically just guided us towards a man with a credit card machine.
"They wanted their port fees paying before we did anything else and any other extras that we needed."
