On November 25, a Red Sea dive boat capsized, leaving 44 tourists and crew fending for their lives. We have a saga of stories you can follow here about the Sea Story incident, including interviews with survivors. Timothy, a diver reached out to us hoping to raise concerns he had while diving in Egypt with the same company that charted the ill-fated Sea Story, but he travelled just a week earlier.
“I am a certified PADI divemaster with over 600 worldwide dives. I am not a survivor of the sinking – I was on a different boat the Sea Pearl, operated by the same company, during the week immediately previous to the sinking,” says Timothy, using his first name only.
Like survivors of the Sea Story, Timothy says Dive Pro transferred him to another boat last minute: “This often happens for operational reasons – desire to have boats travel fully booked; mechanical or logistical issues with the boats; crew availability; weather and conditions, etc. I had been booked onto the Tillis but was moved to the Sea Pearl about 48 hours before the trip was due to begin.
“This wasn’t an issue for me, but many others were annoyed that they could not travel on their preferred boat, or that they had paid for an upper-deck cabin but were now on the lower deck,” he says.
What message do you have for other divers booking liveaboard trips anywhere in the world?
How many diving boat accidents were there in 2024 in Egypt?
“Sea Story” sank in November, as it is in the news. Cause unknown so far, search for remaining survivors is ongoing. 11 people died.
“MV Nouran” sank on 6th of November due to a fire on board, all divers & crew got rescued.
“MY Seaduction” colided with a reef in October, all 18 divers + 10 crew got rescued.
“Exocet” sank after coliding with a reef in June, all divers + crew got rescued.
“MY Sea Legend” had a fire on board in February, one casualty from Germany.
