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Hurghada - Four Russians went missing on Monday while scuba-diving in the Red Sea near the Egyptian resort town of Marsa Alam, a tourism official said.
Ehab Taher, director of the scuba diving tourism office in the Red Sea port of Hurghada, said a group of six people went diving, but only two surfaced.
Divers say the underwater currents in the area are strong. The region is also famous for hosting a large number of sharks during the summer.
The four were reported missing after six hours of searching by several boats and a helicopter.
The search stopped after dark and will be resumed early Tuesday morning, Taher said.
Thousands of divers flock to the Red Sea every year for its world-famous coral reefs.
Five Russians, a Dutchman and an Egyptian lost their lives in two incidents in the same area in 2007.
It is a pity that searches are stopped when dark- many divers carry a torch or a camera with flash that can be very useful if someone was searching for them during the night.
One of the divers swam like 20km to shore near El Quseyr (about 100Km south of the dive site in which they disappeared!!), then search was moved to the right location and found the remaining three divers- alive.
If this guy hadn't succeeded in swimming to shore, most likely that it was not a happy ending story...
All four divers reported missing in the Southern Red Sea on Monday have been found alive, the CDWS can confirm. Following the statement issued by CDWS at 6pm today, search and rescue boats have now found the remaining three Russian divers who went missing at the Little Brother dive site yesterday afternoon (Monday 17 August 2009).
A full scale air and sea search was launched on Monday when four out of six divers failed to return to their boat M/Y Bohemia in the Southern Egyptian Red Sea.
The divers were part of a group of 23 holiday visitors from Russia.
The CDWS was informed at 12.30pm on Monday (17 August 2009) that the divers had been reported missing. At 1.10pm the CDWS then contacted the military search and rescue division, which launched a full air and search rescue operation. All the boats in the vicinity of Little Brother were also informed.
At 5.30pm yesterday evening the air search was called off as daylight visibility reduced. The search resumed again at 8.05am today (Tuesday 18 August 2009).
At approximately 2.30pm/2.45pm, the CDWS was told that one of the missing divers, Vitali Vanov, had reached the shore 40km south of El Queseir after drifting then swimming to land over a distance of 95km. He was taken to El Quseir Hospital for routine medical checks and was subsequently given the all clear by doctors.
The rescued diver told officials that he was with the other three divers until he decided to swim for shore at 1pm today (Tuesday 18 August 2009).
Using information provided by Vanov, search and rescue teams scanned the area for any signs of the remaining divers. Boats were launched from El Quseir to search south, while vessels have also been launched from Port Ghalib to search to the north of the area.
It then was confirmed at 6.30pm today that the three divers were found by boats directly in the middle of the search area. The divers have been taken by ambulance to El Quseir Hospital to be examined by medical staff.
HURGHADA, Egypt — Four Russian scuba divers who were swept away by strong currents in the shark-infested waters off southern Egypt were found alive Tuesday after they managed to swim miles back to shore, said a tourism official.
The four went missing Monday after a dive in the Red Sea near Marsa Alam (they dove in the Brothers about 70 km from shore!!!!), one of Egypt’s top diving locations. They were found Tuesday at a tourist village in al-Quseir, north of Marsa Alam, said Ehab Taher, director of the scuba diving tourism office in the Red Sea port of Hurghada.
One of the divers, Vitaly Ivanov, told The Associated Press that he swam and drifted some 70 kilometres or more then 30 hours (English Channel is about 30km) to make it back to shore. He spoke to the AP from a hospital in al-Quseir, where he was recovering from his ordeal.
Ivanov was found Tuesday morning, and the others later in the day, said Taher. The group started swimming back to shore together, but Ivanov became separated from the other three overnight, said Taher.
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Originally Posted by muha
