(BV / 20-11-09) A couple of Valencian divers, Israel Pérez and María Lourdes González, have died in the early hours of yesterday when the ship where they were enjoying a “living aboard” in the Red Sea sank.

The Coral Princess, a typical dive boat in the area, with about twenty people on board, sank half an hour after leaving port. According to what Antonio García (one of the members of the group of 14 Spaniards) told to the agency Efe, “The boat had been two or three days heeled. In the early hours on Thursday, half an hour after leaving the port, about twelve miles from Sharm el Sheikh, the boat heeled much more and began to sink, then it raised its bow and then sank quickly.”

The passengers say that the problems started the day of the excursion, in the early hours of Sunday 15th, when they boarded. From the beginning they realized that the captain was not very good at navigation and the ship sailed a little heeled.

They complained, according to García: “but the captain assured that it was because there were a full tank and empty one.” The first three days were this way. On Wednesday night, with the ship more heeled, they went back to the port to fix a generator and get ‘nitrox’. At 4:30 am the first passengers started to jump overboard, when they saw water entering in the bathroom sinks of their cabins.

“THE CAPTAIN WAS THE FIRST ONE TO JUMP IN WATER”

None knew well what was happening, but they were coming out and jumping in water without life jackets because there weren’t. “The captain was the first one to jump in water, he did not warn us when the ship began to sink or gave the alert signal to the Coast Guard”, have said the survivals from the beginning.

The first reports about the accident indicate that the ship might have sunk because of bad weather and big waves in the area. However, the sea was rough but there was little swell at the time of the wreck. From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it has been said that, along with investigation of Egyptian police, the Spanish Embassy in Cairo is investigating the case and provides the necessary assistant to those affected.

A few hours after the disaster, Antonio García, in a telephone conversation with the agency, explained that most of the group, after jumping into the water without life jackets, got up to a zodiac and one of the lifeboats of the boat, where they realized that there were two missing people.

“They were 33 years old, from Valencia, and used to dive in Javea. The woman was in the lower cabin, and the man helped other man to go out through a window, and when he tried to go out water prevented it”, added García. It is estimated that the ship is sunk between 100 and 300 meters deep.

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Note from Buceo Virtual:
Those who made this magazine want to join Israel’s and María’s families’ pain, and colleagues and friends of the couple.