Sad news form the Red Sea:

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AeGDfRMna/

 

 

16 minutes ago, Davide DB said:

Sad news form the Red Sea:

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AeGDfRMna/

 

 

Both tragic and scary.  The only positive is there was no loss of life.  As liveaboards continue to grow in popularity, hopefully a solution can be found to further protect them from fire.  

 

 

There does seem to be a worrying uptick in frequency in Egypt, and beyond.   6 in the 12 months to June this year according to this article  https://divemagazine.com/scuba-diving-news/fire-alert-improving-liveaboard-fire-safety-for-divers

Testimony from those on board seems to suggest deficiencies in training, absence of/poor briefings, few patrols, and lack of working alarm systems - so complacency is to some extent creeping in, influenced (in Egypt at least) by policy pressures (removals of subsidies on fuel, introduction of new taxes, inflation) which has put pressure on operating costs.  I haven't noticed much of an increase in holiday costs for some years now- so what's being compromised on-  margin? Maintenance? Salaries? 

As customers, we can do our bit to push for greater focus on this by demanding evidence of inspections/maintenance/fire safety drills when booking, and on embarkation, encouraging each and every passenger to test escape hatches, and walk the route and count the number of steps from cabin to emergency exit.  Knowing the route can help in a smoke-filled corridor. 

Feeding back to operators and agents and calling out bad practice on forums might also help.   

 

 

This was very sad and, as always, scary news. I have never been on the boat, but always thought they were very nice people. It must have been terrifying for all on board, especially in such a remote location.

 

We were moored next to MV Nouran at Deadalus on the day of their fire. We left at sunset, and the fire was later that night. We spent much of the day diving beneath their boat with the oceanic whitetip sharks. 

 

Waiting

 

Not waiting!

 

This is probably the last photo taken of MV Nouran (far right), as we left that evening: