MARSA ALAM: Three foreigners and an Egyptian were missing Sunday after they went scuba diving in Red Sea, an Egyptian diving association said. A fifth diver who was with them was able to swim to shore despite strong winds and high waves.
An Egyptian, three Russians and a Dutch man began scuba diving Saturday morning about 13 kilometers north of the Red Sea resort town of Marsa Alam, located about 700 kilometers southeast of Cairo, said Alaa El Din Abdelgeleel, who heads the search and rescue committee for the Red Sea Association for Diving and Marine Sport.
The five were diving near a large coral reef and were scheduled to return to their sailboat 45 minutes later, he said.
When they did not return on time, the boat s sailor called the local diving center and reported them missing. As part of the initial search, the boat sailed near the reef to look for the divers but did not find them.
One of the Russian divers, identified by the Russian Foreign Ministry as Vladislav Lukyanchenko, swam for three hours before he reached the shore, lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital, Abdelgeleel said.
Lukyanchenko, who was released from hospital on Sunday, later told officials that he and the other divers were lost while diving and started swimming in the direction of a coastal village, the Red Sea Association official said.
But Lukyanchenko lost the other four divers while swimming in rocky waters, Abdelgeleel said.
Around 11:30 pm on Saturday, the Red Sea Association launched an official search and rescue operation, Abdelgeleel said.
The Association identified the missing Egyptian scuba diving guide as Mahmoud Ahmed Hamdan. The missing Russian man was identified as Dmitry Kapitonov and the woman as Yelena Sundukova, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Abdelgeleel identified the missing Dutch man as Michel van Assendflft, and the Dutch Embassy in Cairo said it did not have any information about him.
Abdelgeleel said the Egyptian guide was an experienced diver, and Sundukova was a professional diving instructor.
He said he remained optimistic that they would be found alive, but said the sea s waves were strong and the divers did not have flash lights or whistles, which could help rescuers locate them.
The Red Sea s water temperature was around 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), and although sharks are located in the area, Abdelgeleel said the chances that sharks attacked them were slim.
More than a dozen boats, including several navy vessels, a helicopter and volunteer divers helped search for the missing divers on Sunday but did not find them, Abdelgeleel said. The search was set to reconvene Monday morning.
Their diving suits will help them float as well as keep them warm, and we will start searching again in the early morning, Abdelgeleel said.
In a separate incident, Russian diver Alexei Borisov died on Saturday while diving in the Red Sea, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported, quoting Bashir Malsagov, the Russian consul in Cairo. Borisov had been staying in the Sinai Peninsula resort town of Dahab, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Fatal scuba diving accidents are not common in the Red Sea, where thousands of foreigners come to Egypt annually to scuba dive because of the water s famous coral reefs.
