Turkish tourists who went to Egypt for holiday were losing their lives while trying to enjoy diving. The boat carrying the group, which went to the coast of Tiran Island in Saudi Arabia for diving with the Shamandura Diving company belonging to the Club Reef Hotel, crashed into the rocks when it suddenly turned astern two meters from the diving point. While the captain left the boat without life jackets, 15 passengers found themselves in the sea.
Lawyer Aleyna Tunç, one of the Turkish survivors who told HaberDenizi.com what happened to them, said, “We even had to go to the hospital ourselves.”
“The captain was not himself”
One of the passengers, Av. Aleyna Tunç described those fearful moments as follows :
“When we contacted Shamandura Diving, which provides services within the hotel, they offered higher prices compared to outside tours. When we asked why, they said that outside tours were much more dangerous, that they did not have the necessary equipment, and that their own company was much more reliable. When we boarded the boat to the diving spot, we warned the captain because he was driving the boat unbalanced and too fast. But he didn’t pay attention to us. “The captain’s unstable behavior made us suspect that he was not himself.”
There were only three life jackets
“When the boat made sudden braking (turning) two meters instead of twenty meters from the dive site, the boat hit the rock and began to take in water rapidly. When the boat started to lean to the right, the captain left the mansion and caused us more panic. While my friends and I were trying to calm the tourists down, the team that came to help pulled the boat, which had half of its rope on the rock and half under water, by tying it to their own boat, and the boat began to sink further. When the captain ordered us to jump, we only had three life jackets. “We had to jump into the water without a life jacket.”
They were not taken to the hospital
“As survivors, we were forced to watch other tourists dive for an hour and a half on the tour boat that rescued us. When we returned to land, we had to go to the hospital with our own means as there was not even an ambulance to meet us. “We all had bruises and damage on our bodies.”
We are preparing to file a lawsuit
“When we returned to land, there was neither an ambulance nor the police waiting for us. The management was not aware of it either. After this terrible experience, we are preparing to file a lawsuit against the diving company for compensation. This incident shows how important it is to be careful when choosing diving tours and to take the necessary precautions. We expect an urgent inspection by the authorities. Necessary precautions must be taken immediately to prevent similar accidents from occurring.”