Swiss woman warns of safety deficiencies in diving boats

• The diving ship “Sea Story” sank in the Red Sea with 31 tourists and 14 crew members, including two Swiss. 28 passengers have been rescued so far.

• Michèle (45), a former customer of the same boat operator, criticizes safety deficiencies.

• After the accident, she advises diving travelers to check ships and safety precautions carefully.

31 tourists and 14 crew members were on board the “Sea Story” when it sank in the Red Sea on Monday – including two Swiss. 28 passengers have been rescued so far. The 44-meter-long ship, which, according to the operators, set sail for the first time in 2022, was intended to take guests to several well-known diving spots between Marsa Alam and Hurghada. There is still no information about the cause of the accident. According to several media reports, the boat was hit by a wave during the night.

Michèle (45) took a similar trip with the same operator “Dive Pro Liveaboard” but a different boat in April of this year. After a good experience in 2021, the Swiss woman booked another diving trip lasting several days. “But this time I had a bad feeling. A few weeks before my trip, the ship ‘Sea Legend’, owned by the same operator, burned down, one person lost their life and is still missing today.” After Michèle boarded her boat with a private diving instructor in April, she asked a lot of questions.

“Among other things, I wanted to know what safety precautions had been taken, whether there was an emergency plan and whether the emergency hatch in the bow was freely accessible. After the fire in February, I also decided to bring my own smoke detector for the cabin, as these often don’t work on board. There was a fire alarm on deck once during the week and smoke coming out of the engine room early in the morning. To this day, Michèle doesn’t know what the reasons are. «When asked, the crew just said everything was OK. Only some plastic got into the propeller. But I didn’t buy that from them.”

The local diving instructor, who Michèle has known for years, also had an uneasy feeling at some point. «I didn’t understand what the crew was saying among themselves – he did. At the end of the trip he told me: ‘We’ll never go with them again’.” The reasons for this were comments from the crew about the safety precautions on board.

When she took a closer look, she also noticed on board that a lot of things were being temporarily repaired. “The dinghies were taped in several places and had to be inflated again before we reached the diving spot. The life rafts, which were on the top deck, were also not attached correctly. The 45-year-old was told that if the ship sank, the islands would float above the water anyway and the ropes could be cut with a knife, said the Swiss woman.

Michèle, who completed over a hundred dives within three years, was actually looking forward to traveling to Egypt again next year for a diving holiday. “After my experiences and Monday’s accident, I’m not sure whether I will do that,” says the 45-year-old.

For those interested in diving, she emphasizes: “On board a ship like this you are actually at your mercy. In the region you can book trips where there is sometimes no reception for several days. Then you have to rely on the boat being properly maintained and the crew acting correctly in an emergency.”

“As Swiss, we are perhaps a bit naïve,” says Michèle. They believe that “everything is being maintained properly” and that nothing could happen to a new ship. However, it is worth questioning who is operating the ship and, above all, you should always check the rescue equipment carefully on board.

The company Dive Pro Liveaboard, which operates the ship involved in the accident, did not comment on the accident when asked by 20 Minutes.

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