As more time passes since the Egyptian dive yacht sunk on November 25 off the coast of Egypt, survivors are asking questions of how so many things could have gone wrong. From lack of batteries in the life vests, to leaking life rafts, to an unresponsive Navy. Why did it take more than 36 hours for those that couldn’t escape the wreck to be rescued? Why was the rescue done by a private crew and not the Navy? And were their sounds of distress being heard for 36 hours before the rescue crew went in?
A modern motorized yacht called My Sea Story was underway in the Red Sea on November 25 with 44 people on board – including 33 tourists – when an accident occurred. The My Sea Story listed back and forth several times and then started sinking, with a portion of it staying afloat in the water. Twenty three jumped off the boat in 2 life rafts, but many people remained inside the boat unable to escape including Michael Miles, 70, from Vaud, Switzerland.
Related: did the Egyptian dive boat yacht sink because it wasn’t suited for open water?
We spoke with his daughter about the rescue, which seemed like a miracle. But as time goes on survivors are doubting the Egyptian authorities, and the Navy which took credit for the rescue. Local divers have also sent us photos and updates that the people listed on the rescue team are not correct. Are the Egyptian authorities trying to hide something?
As of today, four fatalities are confirmed, seven people are still missing, 33 people have been rescued. The families of loved ones want answers.
Michael Miles, pictured below, was stuck in the boat for 36 hours, with his cabin mate, believing they would die. He left a goodbye message to his wife and daughter on his camera should he not survive. There was a pocket of air from which he could breath but time was running out.
According to several sources the boat started sinking between 2:30 and 3:30 am, and it took less than 10 minutes, but the Navy didn’t officially arrive until 5:30 am. It was dark and life saving equipment wasn’t functioning because nothing had batteries.
A number of our sources suggest the Navy had no interest in rescuing those still trapped inside. It is rumored that the Navy does not have a dive crew or the equipment to keep the capsized boat afloat.
Melvina Miles, the daughter of Michael told Green Prophet: “My father even put a trouser on the pothole to signal they were there and alive.
“He said also that there were no batteries in their life jackets so that their torches and trackers couldn’t work.
“They were also regularly blowing the whistles of their life jackets to signal their presence.”
According to Egyptians at the rescue site – believed to be an estimated 20km into the Red Sea from the Egyptian coast – knocking sounds could be heard from the boat but that the Navy wouldn’t let them access the boat for a rescue mission.
One reason a European dive operator gave us, was that it might be too dangerous in case an air pocket would change the balance in the boat bringing them all down with it.
Related: sinking dive boat spurs safety checklist for dive boat operators
Despite the risks, a number of divers went in, and brought out 5 people alive, and 4 bodies of crew and tourists.
“My father doesn’t understand why they took so long to search the boat for the missing people and also believes the only reason someone came to rescue them is because an Egyptian divemaster had his nephew missing and he managed the pressure the army to be able to search the boat for him,” says Michael’s daughter Melvina.
“The boat didn’t sink, it floated at the surface. My father had a window but it was too small to get out from and it was high above him. He was able to open it to get some air to it, so it was definitely outside the water. The thing is that in order to get out of the boat, they had to dive down the boat and into the corridors. That was maybe 10 meters. His cabin what as the bottom of the boat but as it got overturned he ended on the top at the surface
“My father is very grateful to be alive. We know there a lot of shady things with the Egyptian authorities but it would be too much energy for a probably disappointing result to try to sue them,” she says.
“He told me that captain of the boat was quite young and didn’t seem very experienced. He was not taking the waves in the correct way and before especially not when it got to the big waves. I believe it was one of the biggest reasons for the boat to sink. If a boat isn’t positioned correctly in the waves it is not good.”
Melvina noted that the company her dad booked the 5-day tour through Liveaboard.com, and they did not respond to her family’s dire situation when her dad was among those stuck inside the boat. No phone calls, nothing.
“Liveaboard never contacted my father to know how he was recovering. They don’t answer our phone calls either,” she says.
Related: dive boat sinks with 44 onboard
She is connected to a survivor’s group and is hoping to find justice in some way for what happened to her father and to the way the authorities treated her when she and her mother arrived to Egypt to comfort her father. “When I arrived in Egypt I called the hospital to speak to my father. The first thing they said was, you are the Swiss case, your father’s credit card credit is not high enough, you need to make a Bank transfer and if not we won’t let him out.”
“I was so shocked at this, and then really angry. When my dad arrived in Marsa Alam after being rescued, the officials came to make videos with survivors and the media but after this he got no help from the Egyptian authorities of any kind. Luckily my mother was already in Egypt. The accident was on Monday and Melvina arrived on Wednesday.
“What makes me the most angry is that my father almost died because they didn’t do what they could to save him and probably some the missing people could have been saved,” says Melvina.
“In some recent articles they say 6 deaths and 5 people missing which makes me believe they found more bodies but don’t want to make it official.”
Items that should not have have been out of place during an accident, hampered rescue efforts and maybe prevented more people from being rescued as they might have been trapped in their cabins.
“My father said that when the diver came to rescue him, the door of his cabin was blocked because of the debris and he had to help to open it. Apparently some other cabins doors were also blocked so they couldn’t search them.”
When the rescue team came they did not bring extra masks and shared regulators. It was deemed a risky operation with reports of sharks circling around the cadavers.
Melvina’s dad never encountered sharks: “He couldn’t see outside, the boat window was too high. He had to climb to open it to get some air inside because the water had some fuel from the boat. It was complicated and he got injured doing it.”
Survivors and the families of those dead and missing are asking: why did the Navy not do more to rescue the tourists? Did they neglect and even prevent rescue divers from going in? Where are the reports and investigation? Why was a dive boat most likely refurbished and not seaworthy out in the water against calls from the authorities that the sea was too rough? Who is going to compensate them for loss of personal effects and loss of life? How has the company that owns My Sea Story had 2 boats go down in the last 2 years and still operating?
Given that tourism industry is worth billions in Egypt and it’s the only lifeline to employment for millions, it’s probably the interest for Egyptian officials to brush this latest tragedy under the rug. Soon it will be Christmas season. One source who dove with the company in the past said he thinks that “Egyptians prefer missing tourists over dead bodies. Missing, for the Egyptian Authorities is a happier ending and it can mean anything, especially for insurance companies. Maybe they swam to the nearby Socotra Island? Or they have taken off together for a secret new life sipping cocktails in the Caribbean?”
Since the Gaza attack on Israel in 2023 tourism to nearby Sinai, Egypt has been deeply affected. Some resorts at a standstill. With thousands of people cancelling their holidays to the Red Sea region, considered one of the best diving spots in the world some parties may have an interest that the show go on.
Egypt dive boat sank because it wasn’t built for open water, sources claim
