Father of Egypt yacht crewman tells of how his son ‘despatched out a misery sign earlier than boat sank’: Two British survivors are named

The father of one of the five survivors of the Egyptian yacht tragedy has shared how his son courageously sent out a distress signal before the boat sank.

Hossam Al-Farmawi told the Times how his son, Youssef, along with Captain Alaa Hussein bravely ‘rushed to help a man and a woman’ after calling for help.

‘Youssef was their diving instructor and they were trapped in a cabin but the water flooded the boat,’ he said.

He said his son found ‘about 20cm’ of the cabin was still not flooding, allowing them to breathe ‘and stay alive until the rescue teams arrived’.

Elsewhere, he said, two more survivors remained in ‘complete darkness and cold water for about 30 hours’ until rescue teams arrived – from 5.30am until around 11am.

Authorities are still searching for seven people yet to be found on the Sea Story. 

The yacht is understood to have been carrying 31 tourists and 13 staff when it was hit by a large wave near Marsa Alam in southeastern Egypt on Monday, causing it to capsize.

MailOnline understands that Colin Sharratt, 65 from London, and Sally Jones, 58, were rescued with 28 of the 44 on board on Monday.

Four people have died, while 33 have been rescued. Two Britons are among those still missing as of Thursday morning. They have not been identified.

One British survivor told the Times that they were helpless to swim as the boat capsized in pitch black darkness.

‘What saved me was my life jacket, which kept me on the surface until the rescue teams arrived,’ they said.

The 144ft vessel sank in around five minutes after being hit. Waves in the region climbed to four metres amid turbulent weather.

Survivors of the incident are believed to have spent 30 hours trapped in small air bubbles as the vessel went down.

The horror echoed the tragic sinking of the Bayesian superyacht in September. Victims are feared to have suffocated to death in air bubbles that filled with carbon dioxide as air ran out, based on their autopsies. 

Survivors of the ‘Sea Story’ sinking were reportedly found inside the overturned vessel after rescuers broke into a room not yet filled with water, an official revealed earlier this week.

A government source close to rescue operations said the five survivors were found on Tuesday morning inside the boat, which the governor said had been thrown on its side by an early morning wave but had not completely sunk. 

‘They were found inside one of the rooms which had not filled with water,’ the government source told the AFP news agency, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media.

The group had spent at least 24 hours in the overturned vessel after authorities first received distress calls at 5:30 AM local time on Monday, initial reports said.

A military-led team rescued two Belgians, one Swiss national, one Finnish tourist and one Egyptian, the governor said, bringing the total number of survivors from the accident to 33.

The four bodies recovered on Tuesday were also located inside the stricken vessel.

Those killed in the wreck have not yet been formally identified.

Rescuers acted quickly to pull 28 of the 44 on board to safety on Monday.

Two Britons were listed among the rescued.

According to a source at a hospital in Marsa Alam, six tourists and three Egyptians were admitted with minor injuries and discharged on Monday.

The tourists included ‘two Germans, two Britons, one Spaniard and one Swiss national,’ the hospital administrator told AFP, requesting anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

According to the governor’s office, the boat was carrying tourists from Belgium, Britain, China, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.

Among the missing are two Polish tourists and one from Finland, according to both countries’ foreign ministries.

The boat had embarked on a multi-day diving trip on Sunday and had been due to dock on Friday at the town of Hurghada, 200 kilometres (124 miles) north.

The governor on Monday said it capsized ‘suddenly and quickly within 5-7 minutes’ of the impact with the wave, leaving some passengers – among them European, Chinese and American tourists – unable to set out of their cabins in time.

The incident occurred during rough weather conditions, with the Egyptian Red Sea Ports Authority reporting wave heights of 10-13 feet and wind speeds of 34 knots in the area on Sunday, leading to the closure of maritime traffic. 

A surviving crew member said the boat was ‘hit by a wave in the middle of the night, throwing the vessel on its side’, according to a manager of a diving resort close to the rescue operations. 

Survivors earlier described their horror as the boat capsized and filled with water, with one of the British tourists who made it out alive detailing how he got free.

An experienced diver who was on the tour reportedly said: ‘I heard screams coming from the cabins, but many could not get out because the doors were closed and the room was filled with water.’

Another of the survivors, a British tourist, added: ‘It was dark and the water suddenly surrounded us on all sides. I tried to swim to the surface, but the current was very strong and I felt like I was about to suffocate.’ 

The man credited his life jacket with saving him by keeping him buoyant before the first rescue teams arrived.

Some of the survivors were reportedly flown back to shore by a helicopter to receive medical care, while others were transported via another boat. 

The search was reportedly made more difficult due to bad weather, which comes after authorities in the Red Sea capital of Hurghada on Sunday shut down marine activities and the city’s port – also due to ‘bad weather conditions’.

But winds around Marsa Alam had remained favourable until Sunday night, the diving manager told AFP, before calming again by morning.

The firm that operates the yacht, Dive Pro Liveaboard in Hurghada, Egypt, said yesterday it had no information on the matter.

The boat had reportedly passed its last safety inspection in March 2024, with no technical issues reported. 

The boat, owned by an Egyptian national, was 34 meters long and had received a one-year safety certificate from the Maritime Safety Authority. 

Ship tracking website Marine Traffic showed the last location shared by the boat as somewhere off Hurghada.

The Sea Story is a 144ft, four-deck pleasure craft built in 2022, which can carry up to 36 passengers. 

The boat has a total of 18 twin cabins with en-suite bathrooms on board, which are used for tourists on diving trips hoping to explore the Red Sea reefs. 

Authorities have not confirmed the nationalities of the tourists and it is unclear who is among the rescued and who is still missing.

The Chinese embassy in Egypt said Monday two of its nationals were ‘in good health’ after being ‘rescued in the cruise ship sinking accident in the Red Sea’, Chinese state media reported.

Polish foreign ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski said authorities ‘have information that two of the tourists may have had Polish citizenship’.

The Finnish foreign ministry confirmed to AFP news agency that one of its nationals is also among the missing. 

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told MailOnline: ‘We are providing consular support to a number of British nationals and their families following an incident in Egypt and are in contact with the local authorities.’

It is not the first time this year a diving tour boat sank in the Red Sea. Earlier this month, 30 people were rescued from a sinking dive boat near the Red Sea’s famous Deadalus reef.

In June, two dozen French tourists were safely evacuated before their boat sank in a similar accident.