Six confirmed dead, many injured, in Egypt tourist submarine disaster
Six people have lost their lives and many more are injured after a tourist trip aboard a submarine in the Egyptian Red Sea turned into a nightmare. The incident took place earlier today in the resort destination of Hurghada during a trip run by operator Sindbad Submarines.
It’s currently unconfirmed what caused the 44-seater vessel to sink, though some online claim it was due to an accidental collision with a coral reef. The company’s website bills the tours as short trips that descend to a maximum of 25 meters (82 feet) and promise that those on board will “experience the beauty of the Red Sea’s underwater world without getting wet”. They promise that their submarines are “engineered in Finland to sustain underwater pressure up to 75m, ensuring safety and reliability.”
At least 6 feared dead after tourist submarine carrying about 40 passengers sinks off Egypt’s Red Sea coast https://t.co/wGwVHobb7p pic.twitter.com/9J2DXDXmbH
— New York Post (@nypost) March 27, 2025
The Russian consulate in Hurghada has confirmed to the press that all of the dead were Russian citizens, and it appears that all of those on board were Russian. The survivors have been rushed to hospital by ambulance, with 29 people now receiving medical treatment.
BREAKING: Four Russian citizens have died after a tourist submarine suffered an emergency outside Nurghada in Egypt, NBC is reporting
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 27, 2025
More ➡️ https://t.co/TC2ROCL7wW
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The submarine – ‘The Sinbad’ – had been in operation for many years and, according to the company, was one of just “14 recreational submarines” in the world. The more cynical among you might be saying that there’s a very good reason there aren’t many tourist recreational submarines.
Many have quickly drawn parallels to the 2023 OceanGate Titan submersible implosion. That global incident claimed the lives of 5 people, including OceanGate Stockton Rush, who were on a deep-sea trip to view the wreck of the Titanic. But, while both of these stories do indeed feature tourists descending beneath the waves and hoping the company in charge knows what they’re doing, it’s hard to compare a submarine ascending to around 80 feet to a submersible in the deep ocean at around 11,000 feet.
As of writing, there’s no official confirmation of what happened to the Sinbad – just online speculation – so we don’t know how deep underwater it was or what caused the disaster. Theories range from an undersea collision with coral or rocks to some kind of mechanical failure. Hopefully we’ll soon start to hear from some of the survivors and can begin to assemble a picture of how this went down.
But, regardless of how it happened, maybe this should serve as a reminder to think twice before taking a tourist trip aboard a submarine as if things go wrong, they go really wrong.
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