Red Sea cruise shipwreck: Survivors tell BBC of terrifying escapes

Unable to reach the forward exit, Luciana and Christophe ended up in an air pocket in the engine room at the stern (rear) of the boat, which was still out of the water. After some time, they did not realize where they were until they were joined in the small space by Yusuf al-Faramawi, one of the diving instructors.

The three would stay there for about 35 hours, sitting on fuel tanks.

Outside the boat, Sara, Hissora, and the others who jumped out finally found two life rafts that had opened after the sinking. As they boarded the ship, they found the ship’s captain and several other crew members already there.

Sarah remembers one of the other guests saying, “There’s got to be some supplies in here.” The BBC was told that all the people we spoke to remembered the safety briefing reminding them that the life rafts had food and water in them, but they did not.

“We found a torch, but it still had no batteries. We had no water and no food,” says Sarah. “There were torches, but they have already been used.”

Sarah says that of the three blankets on the deck of the raft, one was taken by the captain, one was left for the crew and the other for the guests. “We tore it up and got together,” Sarah says.

The rafts were picked up by rescue ships around 11:00 a.m. on November 25, about 8 hours after the sinking. Both they and the boat drifted eastward.

Back on board the Sea Story, Luciana heard the sound of a rescue helicopter – but her ordeal was far from over.

“At that point we were very happy, but we had to wait another 27 hours,” he says.

Although the boat was located, rescue efforts were slow. “We had no contact with the outside, nothing. No one tried to see if anyone was alive out there,” Lucianna said.

He tells me that there are moments when darkness and despair overwhelm him. “I was so ready to die. We didn’t think anyone would come.”

After a few hours trapped in the air pocket, the dive guide Youssef wanted to take a boat ride, but Lucianna and Christophe convinced him not to. “Stay with us because they’re going to come get our bodies and they’re going to find us,” Lucianna remembers telling him.

Finally, after nearly a day and a half stuck in the hull of the Sea Story, a light appeared in the darkness.

Khattab al-Faramawi, a local Egyptian diving instructor who is Yusif’s uncle, went through the flooded corridors looking for people and crashed. He got Joseph out first, then returned to take Lucianna and her partner to safety after an hour’s delay due to problems with his breathing apparatus. “I gave him a big hug,” Lucianna said. “I was very, very happy.”

In all, five people from the Sea Story were rescued by divers, including a Swiss man and a Finnish woman who survived in another air pocket in the lower deck cabin. The bodies of four people were recovered.