Sixteen missing after tourist boat carrying 44 sinks off coast of Marsa Alam in Egypt

Search is under way for those lost at sea

First responders tend to a man on a stretcher in Marsa Alam on Monday. AFP

Sixteen people were missing on Monday after a tourist boat carrying 45 passengers sank during a diving trip off Egypt's Red Sea coastal town of Marsa Alam.

Twenty-eight tourists were rescued from the water and taken to hospital by helicopter, according to the governor of Red Sea province.

Egypt's tourism ministry said they were receiving medical care and that “authorities are working to ensure their safety and well-being”.

Search and rescue operations were continuing for those remaining missing, with the navy and air force taking part, the governor's office said. Thirty-one tourists and 13 crew members had been reported missing earlier after municipal authorities received a distress signal from the boat.

The vessel sank in the Ghadir area of the Wadi El Gemal National Park, south of Marsa Alam. It had departed from Porto Ghalib on Sunday and was due to return to Hurghada Marina on November 29.

Britain's Foreign Office said that consular support was being provided to “a number of British nationals and their families” following the sinking. Reports indicated that four British citizens were aboard.

Rescue efforts were not limited to government teams. The Chamber of Diving and Water Sports, a private sector entity that works in conjunction with the government and has widespread jurisdiction in Egypt’s Red Sea province – home to some of Egypt’s most scenic diving spots – issued a call for help on Monday.

The chamber asked all private yachts near the site of the sunken vessel to aid the search and rescue operations.

According to a tally published by Egypt's Al Dostor newspaper, the tourists on the boat included German, British, US and Chinese nationals, among others. They came from a total of 13 countries, with the majority from Europe. The crew were Egyptian.

Egypt's Red Sea resorts and beaches are popular with tourists, especially diving enthusiasts, but the country has a mixed record on transportation safety.

On October 23, the scuba diving vessel Seaduction, carrying 18 French divers and a crew of 10, struck a coral reef and sank near Elba Reef in the Red Sea near the Egypt-Sudan border. All passengers and crew evacuated the boat and were rescued after drifting for eight hours in lifeboats.

The Seaduction was the third liveaboard to sink in the Red Sea this year following the sinking of the Exocet near Marsa Alam in June and the Sea Legend, which sank in February following a cabin fire.

Three British tourists died in the Sea Legend incident. There were no casualties in the Exocet sinking.