divers missing in Egypt

Just had this emailed to me.

CDWS PRESS RELEASE missing divers

UPDATED: 17:00 (GMT +2) 18 August 2009

Egypt?s Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS) can confirm that a full scale air and sea search operation is continuing today (Tuesday 18 August 2009) to find the three remaining Russian divers of a group who went missing in the Southern Egyptian Red Sea on Monday. One of the divers was found alive and well 40km south of El Queseir this afternoon (Tuesday 18 August 2009).

The divers were part of a group of 23 holiday visitors from Russian on board the M/Y Bohemia in the Southern Egyptian Red Sea.

Six of the passengers went diving on Monday (17 August 2009) on the Little Brother dive site. However, four of the divers failed to return to the boat.

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 mil itary 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 after drifting and swimming 95km in the waters between El Quseir and Marsa Alam. 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 are continuing the scan the area for any signs of the remaining divers. Boats have been launched from El Quseir to s earch south, while vessels have also been launched from Port Ghalib to search to the north of the area.

ENDS

18.08.09

Stew

followed by this one:

Missing divers found

UPDATE: 19:00 (GMT +2)

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 o f 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.

Ends

18.08.09

very lucky i would say

Stew

And now this one

Missing divers found

UPDATE: 22:00 (GMT +2)

CORRECTION: further to the press release sent out at 19:00, please note that the three remaining divers found today made their way to shore and were not discovered by rescue boats, as was previously reported. The full CDWS report is as follows:

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.

< br>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 provid ed 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 made their way to shore and were found 35km south of El Queseir. The divers have been taken by ambulance to El Quseir Hospital to be examined by medical staff.

Ends

18.08.09

Stew

It is great to hear that they are okay....

It is great to hear that they are okay....

I havent heard directly from my friend who operates out of El Qusir but I am sure he would have had his boats out looking for them. I would have had money on it that they were Russian though. It is certainly an area you wouldnt want to be in the water for too long. Like you say, good to hear that they were found.

Stew

That's ... quite a swim. Great to hear there was a happy ending. For some reason, Russians seem to be overrepresented in Red Sea diving incidents.

Nice to hear no fatalities this time!

And about russians and diving... Yeah - I've dove with them over 14 years and theyr level of risk assesment is waaay out there ( I can't even see it from here - it's so far away ). Offcourse this does not aplly to all of them, but for most. Diving under the ice alone in 5 mm. wetsuite a week after having an heart attack. Or alone to 48m. wreck with ordinary scuba equipment and getting 25min. of deco. I could go on and on... Hope that these fellows got a good lesson and are more careful next time.