Survivor of Egyptian tourist boat tragedy reveals she had to wait 35 HOURS for help and was ‘ready to die’ – but made a lucky discovery in the engine room
A survivor of the Egyptian tourist boat tragedy has revealed how she had to wait 35 hours for help and how she was ‘ready to die’ after the yacht capsized in the Red Sea.
In November 2025, the yacht ‘Sea Story’, which had 31 tourists and 13 crew members on board, was hit by a large wave near Marsa Alam in the southeast Egypt.
The disaster claimed four lives and seven people are still missing. including two British divers.
Lucianna Galetta from Belgium, one of the survivors, was trapped in the sinking boat for 35 hours.
In conversation with the BBC News through tears she said, “To be honest, I was ready to die.
‘It’s very strange to be alive compared to the others. I was more willing to die than to live now and live like this.”
She had been on the boat with her partner Christophe Lemmens and the couple survived after finding an air pocket still sticking out of the water in the engine room at the back of the ship.
Lucanna and Christophe ended up trapped in the area as they waited for rescue and were later joined by diving instructor Youssef al-Faramawy.
Survivors of the Egyptian tourist boat tragedy have described their horror as the boat capsized and filled with water, including Lucianna Galetta from Belgium, who was trapped in the sinking boat for 35 hours and revealed she was ‘ready to die’.
Although she was “very happy” when she heard a rescue helicopter about eight hours after the boat capsized, Lucianna said they had to wait another 27 hours before receiving help.
She added: ‘We had no communication with the outside world, nothing. No one tried to see if anyone was still alive.”
The trio were eventually rescued by al-Faramawy’s uncle Khattab al-Faramawi, a local Egyptian diving instructor.
Lucanna added: “We waited 35 hours. I don’t understand why there are no divers on the Egyptian military boats.’
The incident occurred during rough weather conditions, with Egypt’s Red Sea Ports Authority reporting wave heights of 3 to 4 meters and wind speeds of 34 knots in the area, leading to the closure of maritime traffic.
The boat left for a diving trip from Ghalib harbor in Marsa Alam on November 24 and was due to arrive at Hurghada marina on November 29.
However, the boat never made the journey and tipped onto its side around 3 a.m. while most passengers slept in their cabins.
Fellow survivor Hissora Gonzalez, from Spain, told the BBC how the rocking of the ship kept her awake that night.

Medics and people waited for possible survivors after the boat sank in a port in Marsa Alam, Egypt, November 25, 2024

Another survivor, Dr. Sarah Martin, from Britain, said she remembered “watching the waves” before the disaster
When the engine failed and the yacht tilted sideways, Hissora remembered how all the lights went out – and she couldn’t tell whether she was walking on the “floor or ceiling” of the ship.
Another survivor, Dr. Sarah Martin, from Britain, said she felt worried about the size of the waves before the disaster.
When they asked the crew if this was “normal” weather, Dr. Martin said they “shrugged their shoulders.”
She added: ‘We didn’t realize the danger we were in.’
After the ship turned over, Sarah and Hissora went to the emergency exit at the front of the boat.

Lucianna had been on the boat with her partner Christophe Lemmens and they survived after finding an air pocket in the engine room at the back of the ship, still protruding from the water.
To escape, the pair had to climb over door frames and beams, which they found ‘quite disorienting’.
The pair jumped into the icy water without life jackets because they feared the boat would sink completely.
Sarah added, “I thought if the boat was going to sink, we had to get away from it so it wouldn’t pull us down with it.”
Hissora recalled the terror, describing how the current was “very strong” and her friend Chris “was swept away.”
One of the instructors, Natalia, was swimming back to the boat to look for someone else and she heard screaming from a cabin.
She swam to the cabin window and tried to break it with debris, but was unsuccessful.
Despite local authorities suggesting waves were the cause, 11 people who survived the disaster told the BBC they believe “crew errors” and “safety errors” by the tour operator, Dive Pro Liveaboard, could have contributed to the sinking.


Medics are waiting for possible survivors after a boat sank in a port in Marsa Alam on November 25

Rescuers and medics are seen on a pontoon after the boat capsized early this morning

Medics wait for possible survivors after a boat sank in a port in Marsa Alam, Red Sea Governorate, Egypt, November 25, 2024

The ship tracking website Marine Traffic showed that the last location the boat had shared was somewhere outside Hurghada
Although the water felt “very rough” while they were still aboard the boat, Dr. Martin said it did not feel “extremely stormy” or unsuitable for swimming.
Dr. Simon Boxall, oceanographer from the University of Southampton, said: ‘I have looked at the available data for that region for wind conditions and there is no way that a large wave would have caused the ship to capsize.
‘That actually comes down to two options: pilot error or, in this case, navigator error or an error in the ship’s design. There’s a good chance it’s a combination of both.’
The BBC contacted the company operating the yacht, Dive Pro liveaboard, several times to get their response to the survivors’ claims, but never got back to them.
Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi said the ship capsized “suddenly and quickly within 5-7 minutes” after the wave hit, leaving some passengers unable to leave their cabins in time.
Army rescuers and a passing tourist boat rescued 28 people from the water. Hanafi said the boat passed its last safety inspection in March 2024, with no technical problems reported.
The boat, owned by an Egyptian national, was 34 meters long and had received a one-year safety certificate from the Maritime Safety Authority.
The ship tracking website Marine Traffic showed that the last location the boat had shared was somewhere outside Hurghada.
The Sea Story is a 44-meter, four-deck pleasure boat built in 2022 that can carry up to 36 passengers.
The boat has a total of 18 double cabins with en-suite bathrooms on board, which are used for tourists on diving trips hoping to explore the reefs of the Red Sea.