Another Tourist Boat Catastrophe

[Irish Rover]

Thank you. That's always been my point on these threads.

Yeah. The majority of posters are able to discuss the accident reasonably but our first class master mariner @aquadorman appears intent on being judge, jury and executioner. The poster has a strange posting profile as well .

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Agree with Porthandbuoy. No vessel should capsize that easily. I've no idea where 'Sea Story' was built (or modified), or where she was surveyed, but there should have been sufficient righting moments in a competently built and managed boat for it to recover from a 'large wave'. Egypt has a poor record of dive boats or similar coming to grief. Sadly it appears that the lessons of such tragedies are not being learned. It appears to be more about ensuring the tourists keep coming than about the safety of boats and those aboard.

A shame, because Egypt has a maritime history going back 4000 year or more! And not just river craft; they exploited copper mines in Arabia using ports on the Red Sea coast. See "The Red Sea Scrolls" - excellent account of documents found at an intermittent port on the Red Sea.

 

[wonkywinch]

Diving "liveaboard" boat accidents since 2006. Allegedly.

Diving Liveaboard accidents since 2006 – Google My Maps

 

[Graham376]

More here, evidently 10 dive boats have sunk in Egypt in the last few years

 

[Bilgediver]

I've seen it reported as a wooden hulled yacht but the photo above doesn't look like a wooden hull.

Surmising what can be built on the banks of the Nile out of timber..

Our Egyprion manager in Egypt had a Trader look alike gin palace but not an ounce of fibre glass . It was nice and stable and two big Cats driving it, It was only when you got close you realised that all those curves were sculpted out of timber. My first thoughts looking at Sea Story was stability with all that top hamper ? Vanishing angle of stability?
The boat I sailed on out of Hurgharda had no dinghy on board .It didn't go out if rough as the fishing was poor

 

[Stemar]

It would appear that the boat was dangerously unstable. What a nightmare.

Red Sea tourist boat sinking: Survivors tell BBC of terrifying escapes

 

[wonkywinch]

It would appear that the boat was dangerously unstable. What a nightmare.

Red Sea tourist boat sinking: Survivors tell BBC of terrifying escapes

Scary experience but I wonder if some people are really unaware of their ability to help themselves. "Who has cigarettes, we can at least have a smoke". Thank goodness their Gitanes were waterlogged.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Alleged attempts at cover up, sleight of hand and conclusions already arrived at. Also a survey of other dive boats, operated by different companies, concluded that the dive boat industry in Egypt is poorly managed.

Red Sea dive-boat survivors accuse authorities of cover up