Jávea divers in Egyptian ordeal

Diving couple feared dead in the Red Sea

Diver Jorge Sánchez at Manises airport before leaving for Sharm el-Sheikh Photo EFE

News Staff Reporter
A MARRIED couple belonging to a Jávea diving club are still missing after the boat they were travelling on sunk in the Red Sea in Egypt.

The couple, Israel Pérez Muñoz and María Lourdes González Villarroya, both experienced divers, were travelling in a group of 15 that had booked the trip via the Club de Buceo Dolphin's, based in Jávea.

Sources say the accident occurred at around 05.00 local time last Thursday shortly after the yacht had left port.

One of the survivors said the boat appeared to be listing to one side shortly before it sank and the last time anybody saw Sr Pérez was when he was helping one the crew.

He added that Sra Villarroya was in her cabin when the boat began to sink and he could not say what happened to Sr Pérez.

The rest of the passengers and the crew survived as they managed to reach lifeboats.

They say they do not think the boat hit a reef because they would have realised, but they all noticed the boat was in difficulties before it sank.

They added that the skipper abandoned the boat first without warning anybody and that the crew did not know what to do.

Jávea diver Sandra López, who was also part of the Red Sea party, returned from Egypt on Sunday.

Read more in this weeks Costa Blanca News edition

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