Six people dead – but cause of Red Sea sinking still unclearpublished at 18:10 Greenwich Mean Time
Imogen James
Live reporter
Image source, Mike CartwrightAt about 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT), a tourist submarine sank in the Egyptian Red Sea, off the coast of Hurghada. Our live coverage is ending now, so here’s everything we know – and don’t know:
What we know:
Six people, all Russian, died after the tourist vessel sank around one kilometre from the coast. The local governor said 39 tourists were rescued, and nobody is missing.
The 45 tourists were from Russia, Norway, Sweden and India, the governor said, along with five Egyptian crew members.
The company in charge, Sindbad, has cancelled upcoming trips and authorities are investigating.
A number of people have got in touch with the BBC to share their experiences on Sindbad submarines – this tourist shared footage from their trip this past weekend.
What we don’t know:
We still don’t know what caused the sinking.
Speaking to Russian media, a survivor said that as they took their reserved seats, water started “pouring in” as two hatches were open. She said it was as if the submarine had fallen off “whatever it was holding on to”.
(Earlier, we learned that tourists are taken out to the submarine – which is docked at a floating platform – on a regular boat).
But other unconfirmed reports said the vessel hit a reef at 20 metres and lost pressure.
For more on the who, what, where, when and why, here’s our explainer. Thanks for reading.
