Three bodies found after tourist boat sank in Red Sea with British nationals onboard

Three bodies have been recovered after a tourist boat sank in the Red Sea, a local official has said.

Rescue teams had been “intensifying efforts” to find 16 people who were missing – and two British people are believed to be among them.

Governor of the Red Sea region Amr Hanafi told Reuters news agency that three bodies have now been recovered and 13 people are still missing.

The 34-metre-long tourist boat Sea Story sank on Monday south of the Egyptian coastal town of Marsa Alam with 44 people on board.

Among the foreign nationals on board were those from the UK, Ireland, US, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, China, Slovakia and Spain.

The nationalities of the people whose bodies have been found is unknown.

Egyptian military forces, which are co-ordinating operations, had already rescued 28 people “in cooperation with a cruise ship that happened to be in the area”.

According to those on board, a “high sea wave” hit the vessel and caused it to capsize in “about five or seven minutes”, Mr Hanafi said.

Some passengers were inside the cabins, “which is why they couldn’t get out of the boat”, his statement on Facebook added.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office spokesperson said on Monday: “We are providing consular support to a number of British nationals and their families following an incident in Egypt and are in contact with the local authorities.”

The boat had left Port Ghalib, 40 miles (63km) north of Marsa Alam, on Sunday and was scheduled to reach its destination of Hurghada Marina on 29 November.

Officials said a distress call was received at 5.30am local time on Monday.