Six Killed in Tourist Submarine Sinking off Egypt

On Thursday, six tourists were killed when a recreational submarine went down near Hurghada, a resort town on Egypt's Red Sea coast.

The viewing sub had 45 passengers and five crewmembers aboard at the time of the casualty, according to Red Sea Governorate's Maj. Gen. Amr Hanafy. The tourists included Swedish, Norwegian, Indian and Russian nationals, along with five Egyptian crewmembers.

All crewmembers and all the rest of the passengers were rescued, though four surviving tourists were left in critical condition. They were evacuated to nearby hospital ICUs and remain in critical condition.

Hurghada's Russian consulate reported that the sub was on a routine trip to a nearby coral reef when it "crashed." An investigation by the local authorities is under way.

Inside the same Sinbad tourist submarine that sunk off the coast of Egypt in the Red Sea on Thursday morning.

44 Russians were on board. Six are reportedly de*d.

This video is from a previous voyage. It gives you a sense of the experience when things don’t go terribly wrong. pic.twitter.com/euIJbDPetq

— Paul A. Szypula ???????? (@Bubblebathgirl) March 27, 2025

The operator of the vessel, Sindbad Submarines, has two subs in its fleet. They were "engineered in Finland," according to the company, and typically operated at depths of about 80 feet on 40-minute excursions.

It is the latest in a series of tragic accidents in Egypt's Red Sea tour-boat industry. The UK government counts 16 serious accidents involving Egyptian dive boats within the last five years. The most recent fatal casualty, a sinking in November, killed 16 people. Another brand new Egyptian dive yacht caught fire and burned before its maiden voyage last month.

Top image: a Sindbad submarine under tow, 2004 (file image courtesy Digr / CC BY SA 3.0)