CAIRO: Six Russians died on Thursday and 39 foreign tourists were rescued when a viewing submarine sank off the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada, the local governor’s office said on Facebook, adding that no passengers or crew were still missing.

The Red Sea Governorate said the submarine, named “Sindbad”, had 50 people onboard: 45 tourists of different nationalities from Russia, India, Norway, and Sweden, and five Egyptian crew members. Russian state news agencies quoted General Consul Viktor Voropaev as saying that two of the deceased were minors.

“Most of those on board were rescued and taken to their hotels and hospitals in Hurghada,” the Russian consulate in Hurghada said. They further added the vessel had been carrying “45 tourists, including minors” on an underwater excursion to observe coral reefs when it “crashed 1 kilometre from the shore” at about 10am

local time.

The submarine was equipped with large portholes to let passengers see the Red Sea’s spectacular corals and marine life, and was able to descend to a depth of 25 metres, according to the company’s website.

The pleasure craft was a far cry from the extreme adventure submersible that imploded thousands of metres below the Atlantic near the sunken Titanic in June 2023.

Egyptian authorities are conducting investigations with crew members to determine the causes of the submarine sinking, the local governorate cited Red Sea Province Governor Amr Hanafy as saying. The submarine, which is owned by an Egyptian, was licensed and so was the crew captain, he said. “Six people were struggling under the water and we were able to pull them out,” a Sindbad employee told the governor in the hospital, according to a video shared by the governor’s office.

Deadly accidents

Hurghada, a resort town about 400 kilometres southeast of the Egyptian capital Cairo, is a major destination for visitors to Egypt, with its airport receiving more than nine million passengers last year, according to state media.

Thursday’s forecast in the city was clear, with above average wind speeds reported but optimum visibility underwater. While dozens of tourist boats sail through the area daily for snorkeling and diving activities, Sindbad Submarines says it deploys the region’s “only real” recreational submarine.

The vessel had been operational in the area for multiple years, according to a source familiar with the company. The Red Sea’s coral reefs and islands off Egypt’s eastern coast are major draws, contributing to the country’s tourism sector, which employs two million people and generates more than 10 per cent of GDP.

Egypt also attracts tourists with its great pyramids of Giza and cruises on the Nile in Luxor and Aswan. Successive Egyptian governments have waged successful crackdowns on religious fighter groups who hurt the tourism industry with attacks on foreigners in the past.

The area has been the site of several deadly accidents in recent years. In November, a dive boat capsized off the coast of Marsa Alam, south of Hurghada, leaving four dead and seven missing. Thirty people were rescued from another sinking boat, while last June several French tourists were safely evacuated before their boat sank in a similar accident.

In 2023, three British tourists died after a fire broke out on their yacht, engulfing their vessel in flames.

A United Nations report ranked Egypt first in Africa for tourism revenues in 2024 at $14.1 billion, more than twice its earnings in Suez Canal revenues, highlighting tourism’s vital role in sustaining the hard-pressed economy.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2025