Brit survivor relives horror moment Egypt yacht sank with screams piercing the darkness after being hit by freak wave
BRAVE survivors from the capsized Egyptian dive yacht have revealed they heard trapped tourists screaming from inside their cabins.
Witnesses described seeing an “abnormally large” wave smash into the luxury boat before it tipped over and quickly became submerged by the Red Sea.
A tourist, believed to be a Brit, said it was pitch black when the fatal tragedy first happened at around 5:30am on November 25.
They recalled feeling like they were close to suffocating as the strong current ripped through the boat following the heavy winds and damaging waves.
A professional diver who was out when the yacht also relived the moment the yacht was first rocked.
It took just five minutes for the boat to vanish underwater, they said.
The tourist added: “I was on the surface when things started to go wrong. I felt the boat tilting sharply, and I tried to hold on to something stable, but the capsizing was very fast.
“I heard screams from inside the cabins, but many were unable to get out because the doors were closed and the place was filled with water.”
One of the dozens of Egyptian crew members also spoke out about the harrowing moment the wave hit and how it came as a shock for everyone on board.
They said: “The wave was abnormally large, we had never seen anything like it before.
“It hit the boat suddenly, causing it to shake violently before it capsized. We tried to alert the passengers, but time was very short.”
Rescue teams had been searching for 16 people they feared were still missing after the boating tragedy with two Brits reportedly unaccounted for.
Emergency crews have recovered the bodies of four missing tourists after search efforts intensified this morning, Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi told Reuters today.
No further information on the nationalities or identities of those found have been released yet.
It is also still unclear where the bodies were discovered.
Three more survivors – two Belgians and an Egyptian – have also been discovered today leaving just nine people still unaccounted for.
The Sea Story yacht left Porto Ghalib Port for a multi-day diving trip on November 24, with 44 people on board.
The morning after, a crew member sent out a distress signal from the boat before it suddenly dropped off the radar and lost all contact.
Authorities say 31 people have been rescued and have all been taken to safety with no major injuries being reported as of yet.
Hanafi confirmed that rescue teams – made up of the Navy, helicopters and divers – are still looking with many of those still feared missing believed to be experienced divers.
According to the ship tracking website Marine Traffic, the last location shared by the boat was off Hurghada.
Four Germans, two Spaniards, two Belgians, two Americans, one Irishman, and a Finn were on board, according to local media.
The others on the trip were from China, Slovakia, Switzerland, Poland, Norway and Egypt.
Eight survivors have been named so far.
They include Ahmed Ramzy, Mohamed Ibrahim, Ayman Foley, Ahmed Sayed Ali, Mohamed Mohamed Metwally, Ahmed Adel, Ali Shaaban and Mohamed Mustafa, report Zaaed News.
It is still unclear which nationalities they are all from.
The Chinese embassy in Egypt has already declared two of its citizens are safe.
Support is also being given to “a number of British nationals and their families”, the UK Foreign Office confirmed.
The urgent hunt for the remaining missing people has seen the Navy called in to aid in rescue operations near Marsa Alam.
Alongside them the Armed Forces in search and rescue work and the General Command of the Armed Forces have been deployed.
The boat had been on the water despite authorities in Hurghada shutting down activities and the city’s port on Sunday due to “bad weather conditions.”
Egyptian weather forecasters predicted wave heights to reach 10-13ft in the Red Sea before Sea Story departed.
It was unclear how the tourist vessel was given permission to sail in such stormy conditions.