From sinking yachts to oil spills: Why is Marsa Alam's coast so treacherous?

Five boat accidents and one oil slick have taken place this year in the Red Sea waters around this idyllic diving spot

The charred remains of a safari yacht that caught fire on the Red Sea. Kamal Tabikha / The National

Perched along Egypt's pristine Red Sea coast, Marsa Alam has long been a hidden gem for beach and diving enthusiasts seeking an escape from the crowded popular resorts of Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada. However, this remote paradise has recently found itself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

A series of alarming maritime incidents have taken place in the area this year, including the sinking of five liveaboard yachts and a cargo ship named the VSG Glory, which sank on Monday after it had run aground on November 22, causing an oil spill.

In response to the incident, in which the freighter, carrying 70 tonnes of fuel oil collided, with a coral reef off the coast of El Quseir, Egypt's Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad visited the area last Sunday to monitor clean-up efforts. It was also carrying 4,000 tonnes of bran and 50 tonnes of diesel.

A coalition of naval forces, petroleum experts and environmentalists had been working to clean up the oil while crews worked to repair the ship's hull, which had been split open in the collision. Repair efforts failed and the ship sank on Monday.

Ms Fouad on Monday said efforts were intensifying to limit environmental damage to the surrounding area after the ship sank. However, the full extent of the pollution remains to be seen. El Quseir residents say areas of the beach have been coated in oil.

The vessel was seen by The National on Friday morning being tugged along the coastline between the port city of Safaga and El Quseir. It was tilting.

The frequency of incidents in the area has raised serious concerns about the safety of the waters surrounding this idyllic destination.

The most recent liveaboard incident involved a yacht called Sea Story, which was carrying 44 passengers and a crew of various nationalities. It capsized, resulting in the death of six, while five others remain missing at sea. The 33 others on board were returned alive after days of search and rescue efforts by the Egyptian navy.

Despite the widespread attention the incident received in the press and on social media, many residents in Marsa Alam seemed unfazed.

During a recent visit to the area, several told The National that while the sinking of the liveaboard yachts was indeed tragic, it was seen by most as no one's fault.

The roughly 300km stretch of coastline from Hurghada to Marsa Alam, which gets wilder as you head south, is a patchwork of cargo docks, military bases, luxury hotels and diving resorts.

That the coastline constitutes one of the country’s strategic sea borders with Saudi Arabia and Yemen, also a prolific smuggling hub, necessitates a strong military presence, which is the state body that administers the country's borders.

Furthermore, some of Egypt’s largest stone quarries, mostly owned by the armed forces, in addition to the country’s largest gold mine, Al Sukkari, are found around Marsa Alam where military bases, some with gargantuan radar units, are a common site near the beaches, many of which are patrolled by uniformed soldiers.

The situation is made more intense by the often heavy commercial maritime traffic on its way either to or from the many ports on Egypt’s Red Sea or through the Suez Canal.

Ali Abdo, 58, a tour operator in Marsa Alam, explained that passengers embarking on yacht journeys, whether they are day trips on small boats or multi-day 'safaris', are required to sign release forms by the tour officials, acknowledging that they are participating at their own risk and that companies are not liable for any accidents.

The tour operators are then required to present a list of any passenger trips to the military intelligence office, located across the street from Marsa Alam’s marina. The military then would either approve the trip or forbid it. The armed forces' main concern, however, is securing the border not tourists' safety.

Safety checks and co-ordination on weather for sailing does not fall under its jurisdiction, Mr Abdo said.

Tour companies are responsible for co-ordinating with state bodies operating in the area on safety measures for passengers, such as weather warnings. They are also held responsible should any traveller choose to take legal action for an experience on a trip.

Mr Abdo said it is, however, common for tourism companies, especially larger, well-connected ones, to ignore certain safety protocols at their own discretion due to their packed schedules and the financial losses they would incur from delays caused by the popularity of diving tourism.

Yassin Sayed, a port attendant at Marsa Alam marina, said: “If a closure is issued by the military for a security concern or a smuggling bust, everyone complies and they return and moor their boats immediately. But weather warnings aren’t always enforced by the military. Some tour companies will ignore weather concerns so they don’t lose money."

He argues, it is possible this happened with Sea Story, which embarked on a five-day safari despite the Egyptian Meteorological Authority warning against sailing on the day of departure.

“To be fair, the sea here is very narrow compared to the Mediterranean and weather rarely gets bad enough for ships to sink, there are far more vessels that sink because of the coral reefs than because of weather,” he added.

The Chamber of Diving and Water Sports, a private sector umbrella authority that oversees permits for diving centres and tourism companies in the area, did not respond to The National’s request for comment on the incident.

The fact that the Sea Story sinking was the only one out of the five incidents this year in which it capsized due to inclement weather corroborates Mr Sayed’s statement. The governor of Red Sea province, Maj Gen Amr Hanafy said last week that the yacht started sinking after it was hit by a "a high sea wave".

Of the four other yacht incidents, two featured cabin fires. One involved Nourhan, a 36-metre liveaboard carrying 24 passengers, which sank on November 6, and another involved the Sea Legend, which burned down to its metal frame in February causing the death of three British citizens.

Its charred remains are now on display at Marsa Alam marina and have become a tourist attraction. According to Mr Sayed and Mr Abdo, the yacht could be seen from the coastal road, drifting for hours as it burned before it hit a stone breakwater. “A military boat followed it all night at a distance as it blazed.” Mr Sayed said.

The remaining two incidents involved the vessels Exocet, which sank on June 26, and Seaduction, which went down in October. Both had collided with the dense coral reefs in the area.

“You can’t point a finger at any one thing that needs to be fixed in order to stop yachts sinking,” Mr Sayed said. "There are often different reasons, which isn’t a surprise ... after all, being out at sea is inherently risky and there are many factors that could go wrong."

The wildness of Marsa Alam’s terrain and its open waters, dense with coral, are the main draw for the kind of tourists who take diving trips, according to Mr Abdo. Such tourists are classified by operators as more adventurous than those who choose to go to Sharm El Sheikh or Hurghada.

“Risk is part of the attraction here," Mr Abdo said. "Tourists want to go out further into the sea, they want to dive with sharks and large turtles and they want to explore dark caverns underwater for hours. It’s a place that is so different to where they come from, a more dangerous place and that’s a big part of the appeal.”

He says the majority of tourists in Marsa Alam are European. “I have been a tour operator here for almost 20 years and what I have noticed is that more Europeans come here than any other nationality.

"I had a German couple ask me to get them military permission papers to hike through the mountains from here to Luxor – that’s over 200km through rocky mountains!”

The recent maritime incidents in Marsa Alam have shed light on the complex challenges faced by this remote paradise. The blend of commercial shipping, military presence and adventurous tourism has created a precarious balance that, when disrupted, can lead to tragic consequences.