Three British nationals who went missing after a scuba diving boat they were cruising in caught fire in the Red Sea off the Egyptian coast have died, a UK-based tour operator said Monday.
Egyptian authorities said the three went missing when a medium-sized scuba vessel named “Hurricane” went up in flames off the southern Red Sea resort town of Marsa Alam on Sunday. The blaze was caused by an electrical short circuit in the boat’s engine room, they said.
We “must accept that three of our much-valued dive guests, who had not participated in the dive briefing early on the morning of June 11, perished in the tragic incident,” the UK-based Scuba Travel said in a short statement.
The company did not say how it determined the three are dead and Egyptian authorities have said only that they are missing. Scuba Travel has not identified the three.
Twelve other British divers and 14 Egyptian crew members were evacuated Sunday morning from the vessel in a rescue operation near the Elphinstone Reef, Scuba Travel said in a short statement. All 15 tourists were qualified divers on a weeklong cruise, it said.