Six dead and nine injured after tourist submarine sinks off Egyptian coast

https://www.lbc.co.uk/world-news/six-dead-nine-injured-tourist-submarine-sinks-egypt-hurghada/

26 comments

  1. I thought we all learned our lesson after OceanGate… I guess not.

  3. For anyone wondering, no, this was not a deep sea submarine like Oceangate, this is a common sort of tourist attraction in many places. They look like [this](https://www.submarinesafaris.com/about-us/our-submarines/) usually. I’ve seen similar in Tenerife, Mexico, Mallorca and Phuket

    The company operating this tour was Sindbad Submarines. [This is their website](https://www.sindbadsubmarines.com/). Their specs are a max dive depths of 25 meters. These boats usually operate very close to the shore and near ports. They have a 44 passenger capacity and have two pilots. It advertises an airconditioned day tour of coral reefs near the harbour (which is where it sank) with hotel pickup, guided tour, etc.

    These are *usually* pretty safe. I’ve been on one in Gran Canaria, and there was a extensive emergency presentation, oxygen masks and even a patrol boat nearby. Would I go to one in Egypt? Probably not. But this company also had good reviews and from what I can tell also had oxygen masks and emergency evacuaton plans, as well as both a boat and a floating platform in the vicinity of the sub, so I wouldn’t point fingers at poor quality/improper training just yet.

  5. Really sad considering these are targeted towards kids and families especially.

  6. It was only ~4 months ago an Egyptian tourist boat sank off the coast killing 11, with the rest of the survivors either floating all night in the darkness or being trapped in air pockets in the hull itself and not rescued until days later. With the Egyptian authorities forcing the survivors to write statements essentially saying everything was above board.

    There’s more examples every year or so going further back.

  8. They are also not a new thing. I remember doing one of my first open water scuba dives off Oahu in 1988 and there was a tourist sub at the dive location operating in about 90 feet of water. Those of us diving took some time to come up to the boat and wave at the folks inside before going off to explore the wreck we all came to see (intentionally sunk ship turned into an artificial reef).

  10. R.I.P. to them and no hate towards them, but I wouldn’t go into a submarine in a tourist place. They often cut costs at all corners no matter how unsafe it could be

  11. Submariner here. There is no way you’d make it out if the thing is indeed sinking while under water, unless you have everybody trained and drilled to use the emergency system. I highly doubt they have an escape hatch that could be used if sunk, or escape suits/similar. There are ways to make tourist subs safe like drop weights, redundant surfacing installations etc. Did go on one in Spain after deeming it safe. But NO way I would trust an actually deep-diving sub in Egypt, or any other country without highest safety standards.

  12. You couldn’t pay me a sufficient amount of money to get into a ‘tourist’ submarine in Egypt or anywhere else.

  15. Remind me not to get on a submarine owned, operated and regulated by Egyptians

  16. Why would anyone trust their life to an egyptian run submarine.

    A better question is why go to egypt.

  18. Sounds like Special Underwater Operation. Full of Russians.

  19. I never trusted the 20,000 leagues under the sea ride ar Disney World either.

  20. Let’s see….list of really dumbAZZ things to do…ride a tourist submarine off Egypt….check

  21. 2 words that obviously don’t belong together.

    Tourist. Submarine.

    Simple.

  22. Saw one break down off the coast of Cozumel on a very hot day with smoke coming from it. Tourists have no idea about the safety, maintenance, and crew of these 3rd world vessels and willing get on board.

  23. What’s the Russian version of “thoughts and prayers?”

  24. Don’t ever do anything slightly dangerous / risky or almost any water sport in 3rd world countries, especially if the attraction is run by tourist company / amateurs and not professionals. Shit like this happens way too often.

  25. “That’s OK Debbie, give ‘em the credit card, I’m sure they’re insured…”

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