Anyone know if they found the divers?

MARSA ALAM, Egypt -- Rescuers searched Sunday for three foreign scuba divers and their Egyptian guide who got lost while exploring a coral reef in the Red Sea, while a fifth member of the group reached a village after swimming for hours.

The diver who swam to safety, a Russian, said there had been sharks in the area.

More than a dozen boats, a helicopter and volunteer divers searched unsuccessfully for the divers -- two Russians and a Dutch man, said Alaa El Din Abdelgeleel, who heads the search and rescue committee for the Red Sea Association for Diving and Marine Sport.

"Their diving suits will help them float as well as keep them warm, and we will start searching again in the early morning," Abdelgeleel said. He noted that although sharks were in the area, chances of an attack were slim.

He said he remained optimistic that they would be found alive, but said the waves were strong and the divers did not have flash lights or whistles, which could help rescuers locate them. The water temperature was about 68 degrees.

The four foreigners set out with their Egyptian guide Saturday morning about 8 miles north of the Red Sea resort town of Marsa Alam, located about 435 miles southeast of Cairo, Abdelgeleel said.

The five were diving near a large coral reef and were scheduled to return to their boat 45 minutes later, he said. When they did not return on time, the boat's captain called the local diving center and reported them missing. As part of the initial search, the boat sailed near the reef to look for the divers but did not find them.

One of the divers, identified by the Russian Foreign Ministry as Vladislav Lukyanchenko, told officials that the group had gotten lost in the water and started swimming in the direction of a coastal village, Abdelgeleel said.

Lukyanchenko said he got separated from the others while swimming in the rocky waters and battling strong winds and high waves. He reached the village after three hours, then lost consciousness.

Lukyanchenko, who was released from the hospital Sunday, said sharks appeared in the area where the team had been diving, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Egyptian diving association identified the missing scuba guide as Mahmoud Ahmed Hamdan. The Russians were identified as Dmitry Kapitonov and Yelena Sundukova, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Abdelgeleel said Sundukova was a professional diving instructor.

Abdelgeleel identified the missing Dutch man as Michel van Assendflft. The Dutch Embassy in Cairo said it did not have any information about him.

In a separate incident, Russian diver Alexei Borisov died Saturday while diving in the Red Sea, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported, quoting Bashir Malsagov, the Russian consul in Cairo. Officials did not provide details about the death.

Fatal scuba diving accidents are not common in the Red Sea. Thousands of foreigners come to Egypt annually to scuba dive because of the water's famous coral reefs.

* _____

Associated Press Writer Omar Sinan contributed to this report from Cairo.

Search called off as hopes fade for missing Red Sea divers
“I am sorry to say there is no chance to find them alive,” said Alaa El Din Abdelgeleel, the associations head. “We are limiting the search to the coastal areas, looking for their bodies,” he said.
The missing divers include Russian tourists Yelena
Sundukova and Dmitry Kapitonov, Dutch tourist Michel
van Assendeof and Eygyptian dive guide Mahmoud
Ahmed Hamdan.
Vladislav Lukyanchenko, a fifth Russian tourist who was diving with the group, survived after swimming for three hours before he reached shore, lost consciousness and was rushed to hospital.
Rough water
Lukyanchenko told authorities that all five divers surfaced together on Saturday morning but lost contact with their dive boat in rough seas and attempted to swim to shore despite high waves and sharks.
The dive boat skipper said that when the divers did not return to the boat as planned, he searched the area and then called a local dive shop who notified authorities of the missing diver emergency.
At about 11:30am, authorities launched a search for the missing divers but failed to find them and suspended the search on Saturday evening.
Despite a massive air and sea search which involved at least 15 boats and a helicopter, no trace of the missing divers was found on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
On Tuesday evening, the Red Sea Association of Diving and Watersports announced that their mission had changed from rescue to recovery of the divers bodies.
© CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NE1WORK


diving tragedy
Powered by CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network by LUTHER MONROE - CDNN Safety News Editor
MARSA ALAM, Egypt (18 Jan 2007)-- Beachsafari has denied responsibility for a scuba diving accident in which three tourists and an Egyptian dive guide went missing and apparently died after the German-owned dive resort lost contact with the divers.
The divers disappeared on Saturday morning January 6 while scuba diving at Elphinstone Reef, a dive site renowned for shark encounters and strong currents.
About 45 minutes after the dive group descended, the skipper of Beachsafari’s dive boat started searching for the divers but failed to find them.
According to Vladislav Lukyanchenko, a fifth diver in the group who survived by swimming ashore on Saturday night, the group resurfaced together after about 30 minutes and the dive guide deployed a surface marker buoy (SMB) to make it easier for their dive boat captain to find them.
But the divers were caught in high waves and a strong current that was rapidly pushing them to the north away from the dive site and their dive boat.
Meanwhile, the dive boat skipper, unable to find the missing divers, called for help and several boats joined the search for the missing divers.
Lukyanchenko told authorities that throughout Saturday afternoon, he and the other divers could see the boats that were searching for them.
After sunset, the lights of coastal villages were visible and Lukyanchenko decided to separate from the group and swim for shore. After swimming for nearly four hours, Lukyanchenko reached Badawia Resort, which is located some 15 kilometers from Elphinstone Reef.
On Sunday morning, an Egyptian government helicopter joined the search but again no trace of the missing divers was found.
At least 15 boats continued searching on Monday and Tuesday but the search was called off on Tuesday evening.
Although Beachsafari, the Red Sea Association of Diving and Watersports and local authorities are blaming bad weather for the accident, many divers have expressed concerns about lax safety procedures and inadequate emergency preparedness among Red Sea day charter and liveaboard dive boat operators.


In August 2004, a group of 12 divers went missing after departing on a liveaboard dive boat trip from Marsa Alam. The dive boat operator also blamed strong currents for that accident.
Lost diver search and rescue technology
Although lost diver fatalities are increasing around the world, technology exists to substantially reduce risks associated with missing diver accidents.
“EPIRB technology to locate missing divers is readily available and very affordable, said CDNN Dive Industry News Editor Lamar Bennington. ‘Considering the vast sums of money invested in million dollar dive boats and multi-million dollar coastal dive resorts, the failure of dive operators to spend a few thousand more on effective missing diver rescue systems--especially in areas like the Red Sea where strong currents are common--well, it verges on criminal negligence.”
‘All it takes is one dive operator in each destination to adopt the technology and to integrate it into their promotion to force everyone else to get on the safe diver bandwagon, Bennington added. ‘If the self-regulated dive industry can’t put our safety at the top of the list, irs time for divers to demand EPIRB diver rescue systems on all dive boats operating in areas subject to currents and high waves.”