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Off the coast of Egypt, there has been a tragedy. The Egyptian governorate office told NBC News that a Sinbad Submarines submersible crashed in the Red Sea on March 27, less than a mile off the coast of Hurghada, killing at least six people.
Russia's embassy in Cairo told NBC News that four of the dead were Russians, confirming that all reported crash victims were foreign nationals, according to Reuters.
The statement said that a total of 45 tourists, including children, were on board the submarine.
The statement also stated that "their health condition is not a concern" and that "the majority of those on board were rescued and taken to their hotels and hospitals in Hurghada."
Although the exact cause of the crash is still unknown, it happened at approximately 10 a.m. local time. According to its website, the well-known Egyptian travel company Sinbad Submarines charges $70 per person for leisurely excursions 25 meters below the surface of the ocean. According to its website, the company offers a diving experience after the trip and owns two of the world's only 14 recreational submersibles.
The accident occurs just months after rough waters caused a tourist yacht to capsize in November near the same region of the Red Sea. Thirty-three people were saved, but four people drowned in the incident. Along with some local Egyptians, the ship also carried tourists from the United States, Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Slovakia, and more, per the Associated Press.
The Sea Story, as it was then called, had all the necessary permits and no known mechanical issues. However, survivors reported that the ship capsized due to a large wave and that the situation worsened "within minutes."
And during an expedition to the Titanic crash site in 2023, OceanGate, another business that was dubbed as owning submersibles for "tourism and research," experienced a catastrophic, newsworthy collapse. Before its tragic demise, the 22-foot submersible, known as The Titan, carried five men, including Stockton Rush, the founder of OceanGate.
The now-defunct company described the men as "true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans" in a statement released after the crash.
