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

Luciana Galletta was trapped for 35 hours in a dark air pocket inside the capsized hull, an experience that left her deeply traumatized, her voice hoarse as she recounted the ordeal. Using the light from her mobile phone, she filmed a video, now shared with the BBC, showing the place where she thought her life might end, and how the churning water and floating debris hampered her escape.

Luciana was among the last of 35 survivors to be rescued from the Egyptian dive boat, the “Ocean Story,” which sank in the Red Sea on November 25 last year. As many as 11 people died or are still missing, including two Britons from Devon, Jenny Cozens and Tariq Sinada. At the time, Egyptian authorities blamed the disaster on giant waves of up to 4m (13ft), but the BBC has interviewed 11 survivors from the “Ocean Story” who cast doubt on this claim. A prominent oceanographer also supports this, telling us that the weather data at the time makes it unlikely that waves caused the sinking, but that crew error and a fault with the vessel are possible causes.

The survivors not only described the terror of being trapped in the rapidly sinking vessel, but also accused the company operating the boat, Dive Pro Liveaboard, of multiple safety breaches. They also said that the Egyptian authorities were slow to respond, which may have contributed to the loss of life. We have put questions to Dive Pro Liveaboard, based in Hurghada, and the Egyptian government, but have not yet received any response. This is the first time the inside story of the sinking of the “Ocean Story” has been told by survivors.

The luxury dive boat had set off from Port Ghalib on the Egyptian Red Sea coast on November 24. On board were 31 international tourists, mostly experienced divers, three dive guides and 12 Egyptian crew. They were embarking on a six-day trip, with the first destination being the popular diving site of Sataya Reef. Like many on board, Luciana’s first impression of the “Ocean Story” was positive. “It looked like a very nice boat, big and clean,” she said from her home in Belgium. The company had transferred Luciana and others from another boat at the last minute, one with hundreds of good online reviews. Some guests were told they were getting an “upgrade,” but some were frustrated that the boat would not be going to their intended destination.

Conditions were fairly rough that evening, although the survivors we interviewed, including experienced sailors, said the boat seemed more unstable than they would have expected. Hours before it capsized, a small inflatable dinghy slipped off the stern of the “Ocean Story.” A passenger filmed the crew struggling to haul it back on board. The oceanographer interviewed by the BBC said the video showed nothing unusual, and was consistent with waves of 1.5m (5ft). Sarah Martin, an NHS doctor from Lancaster, who was also on the trip, said: “Looking at the waves, the weather wasn’t that bad.” But, “furniture was sliding around on deck and we asked the crew if this was normal and they just shrugged, so we didn’t realize we were in danger.” Xisela Gonzalez, a diver from Spain, said: “I didn’t sleep that night because the boat was rocking so much,” her cabin was on the lower deck.

She described how the boat rolled violently several times, until just before 3am, with a bang, the boat flipped onto its side, followed by the silence and blackness of the engines cutting out. People were shouting from other cabins, having been thrown from their beds. Items were scattered around, blocking exits and making escape difficult. One survivor, who had been sleeping on deck, described being pinned down by heavy furniture that moved when the boat capsized. “We couldn’t see anything. I didn’t know if I was walking on the floor, the ceiling or the side,” said Xisela. Disoriented, she started looking for a life jacket. Before she could find one, her friend, Christian Serkos, shouted at her to run.

That shout probably saved her life. Their cabin was on the starboard side (the right), which was the side that hit the sea. Almost all of those who died or are missing had cabins on this side of the boat. “I could hear the water coming in, but I couldn’t see,” said Xisela. Their cabin door was now on the ceiling, and she only managed to escape because Christian pulled her up on his fifth attempt. Opposite Xisela, also in darkness, were Sarah and her cabin mate, dive guide Natalia Sanchez Foster. They could not find the handle of their cabin door. When Sarah managed to turn on the flashlight on her phone, she realized “everything was at a 90 degree angle, the door was on the floor and all our stuff was blocking it”. After clearing the doorway, they joined a group of around 10 people making their way to the emergency exit at the front of the boat.

Because the boat was on its side, the group had to climb two floors up the emergency stairs, passing the restaurant and dining room on the main deck. They struggled to find their way, and it seemed that the contents of the kitchen cupboards had been spilled across the floor. “We had to crawl out along the door frames and beams,” said Sarah. “It was very disorientating in the dark, and very slippery. There was cooking oil and broken eggs everywhere.” Xisela, who was ahead of Sarah, managed to reach the upper deck. She could hear people screaming behind her, but didn’t look back. “I was afraid to look back and see all the water coming in,” she said.

By this point, the “Ocean Story” was sinking rapidly. Those who had reached the top deck knew they had to jump into the water – a drop of 2-3m (7-10ft). “I was paralyzed because Christian kept saying to me ‘don’t jump,’ because he saw people trying to release the life rafts,” Xisela recalled. Sarah was behind Xisela, desperate to get out. “Other guests were holding onto the side of the boat, blocking the exit,” she recalled. “We were shouting at them to move.” As the water level rapidly rose, Xisela, Sarah and around a dozen others who had reached the top deck jumped into the water. They knew the danger was not over. “If the boat was going to sink, we needed to get away in case it pulled us down with it,” said Sarah.

Natalia also jumped, and swam around the boat, hearing people screaming from inside the cabins, and trying to break the windows with floating debris, but without success. Sarah and Natalia were among the few who grabbed life jackets before escaping, but Sarah said they did not perform as expected. “We noticed the lights didn’t work. Thinking back, I don’t think there were any batteries in them.” This was just one of several safety failures reported by those we interviewed.

In total, we interviewed seven survivors who had been staying on the lower deck. They all told a very similar story of the moment the boat capsized, but not all of them escaped in the same way. Luciana Galletta and her partner, Kristof Leemans, were in a cabin at the rear of the lower deck. They were a little slower than others to realize the danger. This delay was to cost them dearly. “We started to get up and try to find our life jackets,” said Luciana. “We opened the door but the corridor was already full of water. I think we panicked when we jumped in and nearly drowned.”

Luciana and Kristof were unable to reach the front exit and ended up in an air pocket in the engine room at the stern of the boat, which was still above the water. They did not understand where they were, until, after some time, one of the dive instructors, Youssef Faramawi, also joined them in the small space. The three of them would sit on fuel tanks, where they remained for around 35 hours. Outside the boat, Sarah, Xisela and the others who had jumped off eventually found the two life rafts that had been deployed after the sinking. As they climbed into the rafts, they saw the captain and some of the other crew were already there. “There should be some supplies here,” Sarah remembers another guest saying. All of those we interviewed remembered that the safety briefing mentioned that there was food and water in the life rafts, but the BBC was told that this was not the case. “We found a torch, but it didn’t have any batteries either. We didn’t have any water or food,” said Sarah. “There were flares, but they had already been used.” Sarah also said that of the three blankets in the life raft, one was taken by the captain for himself, one went to the other crew, and the other to the guests. “We ripped it up and huddled together,” said Sarah.

Rescue boats reached the life rafts at around 11am on November 25, about eight hours after the capsizing. Both the life rafts and the boat had drifted eastwards. Back on the “Ocean Story,” Luciana could hear the sound of rescue helicopters, but her ordeal was far from over. “We were very happy at that point, but we had to wait another 27 hours,” she said. Despite the location of the vessel being established, the rescue operation was slow. “We had no connection with the outside world, nothing. Nobody tried to see if anyone was alive inside,” said Luciana. She told me that at times, the darkness and despair would overwhelm her. “I was ready to die. We didn’t think anyone would come.”

After being trapped in the air pocket for several hours, dive instructor Youssef wanted to try and swim through the boat, but Luciana and Kristof persuaded him not to. “Stay with us, because they will come for our bodies, and that way they will find us,” Luciana recalled telling him. Eventually, after being trapped inside the hull of the “Ocean Story” for almost a day and a half, a light appeared in the darkness. A local Egyptian dive instructor, Hattab Faramawi, who was Youssef’s uncle, had bravely ventured into the wreck, searching for survivors in the submerged corridors. He took Youssef first and then, after a delay of an hour because of a problem with his breathing equipment, he returned to lead Luciana and her partner to safety. “I hugged him so tightly,” said Luciana. “I was so, so happy.”

In total, five people were rescued from the “Ocean Story” by divers, including a Swiss man and a Finnish man, who had both survived by hiding in another air pocket inside a lower deck cabin. Four bodies were recovered. But Luciana criticised the fact that the Egyptian navy had to rely on volunteers. “We waited for 35 hours. I don’t understand why there weren’t any divers on the Egyptian military ships.” Luciana, Kristof and Youssef were taken to a waiting navy vessel and then back to shore. They were the last people to be rescued. At least 11 people died or are missing, presumed dead.

Among them were Jenny Cozens and Tariq Sinada, a couple from Devon, who had been staying on the main deck, on the side of the boat that hit the water. Their bodies have never been found. “It feels surreal,” said Andy Williamson, a friend of the couple. “We keep expecting them to walk through the door.” A month and a half after the sinking, that hope has almost faded. The couple were experienced divers, who always researched the safety record of boats before traveling. They too had been transferred to the “Ocean Story” at the last minute, which may have ultimately cost them their lives.

The BBC has interviewed survivors from almost every cabin on the boat where there were survivors. They all confirm that the boat sank between 2am and 3am. However, according to local authorities, a distress signal was not received until around 5.30am – another factor that may have contributed to the loss of life. Five survivors also reported that heavy furniture on the top deck had not been secured and was moving around before the sinking. One woman, who had been sleeping on deck, believes that all the furniture shifted to one side as the boat began to capsize, further destabilizing the “Ocean Story.” The claim made by Egyptian officials immediately after the event, and reported by news agencies around the world, was that the boat was hit by giant waves. Several survivors’ experience in the water minutes after the capsize casts doubt on this. “When we were in the water, the waves weren’t that big, we were all able to swim in it,” said Sarah, “so it made us wonder why that boat sank.”

These doubts are supported by the data. Dr Simon Boxall, a prominent oceanographer from the University of Southampton, analyzed the weather on the day, and showed that the largest waves were around 1.5m (5ft) – therefore he said “it was impossible for there to be 4m (13ft) waves in that area, at that time.” The Egyptian meteorological office had warned of high waves in the Red Sea, and advised against maritime activity on November 24 and 25. But according to Dr Boxall, “these warnings were 200km (120 miles) north of where the boat sank.” He says that leaves two options, either pilot error, or a design fault with the vessel, or both. The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) is soon to publish a safety bulletin about the sinking, and has recently warned divers about safety issues in the Red Sea, after a number of incidents – at least two of which involved the same company, Dive Pro Liveaboard.

The BBC has sent all of the safety concerns raised in this article to the Egyptian government and to Dive Pro Liveaboard on numerous occasions. We have not received a response from either party. Egyptian authorities launched an investigation into the sinking immediately after the disaster. The report has not yet been published, but for the friends of Jenny and Tariq, it is about more than just a boat. “Unfortunately, we had to learn about the dangers of diving in Egypt in the most tragic way,” said Andy Williamson. “I don’t know how we will ever get through this.” Luciana wants to know exactly what went wrong. “We were lucky to survive,” she said. “But a lot of people didn’t come back from this, and I want their families to be able to grieve.”