missing divers

[bluecape]

Hi all

Have just come accross this story on the press release stuff for our radio station, not sure if this has been seen yet.

Regards

Jeff


"Twelve European tourists -- five Britons, five Portuguese and
two Belgians -- have gone missing while on a diving cruise in
shark-infested waters of the Red Sea, Egyptian police said Sunday.

The divers went missing Saturday off Quseir near two Red Sea
islands known as The Brothers, while 10 other tourists on the
cruise had remained on the boat "The Oyster", police said.

An Egyptian army helicopter and 10 boats were scrambled for a
search operation but found no trace of the missing divers --
neither personal belongings nor equipment.

However police said an Egyptian aircraft spotted a group of
people at a great distance from the area where the 12 were diving.

"It may be that this group is the same as the group that went
missing and that the divers formed a human chain so they would be
spotted by a plane," a police officer told AFP.

Their embassies had not confirmed the disappearances as of early
Sunday evening.

Quseir is some 800 kilometers (500 miles) south of the capital
Cairo.



Source : Sapa-AFP /rm
Date : 08 Aug 2004 20:22

 

[bluecape]

Hi

Herewith some good news..the follow up which thru the press service.

Jeff


" Twelve European tourists -- five Britons, five Portuguese and
two Belgians -- who went missing while on a diving cruise in the
Red Sea have been found alive, Egyptian police said Sunday.

"The 12 tourists who were found are now heading to their
departure base on the beach at Quseir," a police officer said.

The divers, missing since Saturday, were spotted in the water,
which is infested by sharks at this time of year, by an Egyptian
army helicopter and rescued by maritime search and rescue teams
from nearby Sharm el-Sheikh, he said.

Ten vessels were involved in the search for the divers, who had
gone missing off Quseir near two Red Sea islands known as The
Brothers, while 10 other tourists on the cruise had remained on the
boat "The Oyster", police said.

Police earlier said an Egyptian aircraft spotted a group of
people at a great distance from the area where the 12 had been
diving.

"It may be that this group is the same as the group that went
missing and that the divers formed a human chain so they would be
spotted by a plane," a police officer told AFP.

"This turned out to be correct," he said later, adding that the
divers may have been carried away by a strong current.

Quseir is some 800 kilometers (500 miles) south of the capital
Cairo.

Scuba divers have been flocking to the Red Sea in recent years.



Source : Sapa-AFP /an
Date : 08 Aug 2004 21:18