Red Sea dive boat survivors say they were ‘pressured to sign documents’

Survivors of a deadly dive boat that sank in the Red Sea say they were pressured to sign official witness statements in Arabic – which they could not understand and which were translated from English by an employee of the shipping company.

They say the man also tried to get them to sign waivers saying they were not accusing anyone of a “criminal offense.”

The 11 survivors who spoke to the BBC also accused Egyptian authorities of trying to cover up what happened, saying investigators were determined to blame the huge wave.

The Sea Story was carrying 46 people when it sank in the early hours of November 25 last year – four bodies have been recovered and seven people are still missing, including two British divers.

Neither the Egyptian government nor the boat’s operators – Hurghada-based Dive Pro Liveaboard – responded to our questions.

on Tuesday, The BBC revealed multiple allegations by survivors of security breaches aboard. The leading oceanographer who analyzed the weather data also said it was unlikely that a large wave hit the ship.

Within hours of being brought ashore, survivors say they were subjected to what one described as “interrogation,” some from hospital beds, by people said to be judges.

Those who did not require hospital treatment were interviewed at a nearby resort, said other survivors, who reported the same feelings of pressure.

“We were told we couldn’t leave the room until everyone had taken their statements,” says Sarah Martin, NHS doctor from Lancashire.

The judges were part of an Egyptian investigation into the cause of the sinking – although survivors say it was unclear exactly who was in charge.

Survivors say having an employee of the company that owned Sea Story translate their initial statements into Arabic was an obvious conflict of interest.

Spanish diver Hissora Gonzalez said the man initially did not identify himself as an employee. “He just said, ‘You have to tell me what happened and then you have to sign this piece of paper’.”

Only later, say several people we spoke to, did the man tell them he worked for Dive Pro Liveaboard.

Survivors say that after the man translated for them, their statements were given to investigators – something that shocked Lisa Wolf. “A normal judge cannot take a translation from someone who is clearly fully involved in the process.”

One survivor, a Norwegian police investigator, said she had “no idea” what was actually written on the four Arabic pages returned to her. “They could have written anything. I don’t know what I signed,” explained Frøydis Adamson. Under her signature, she says she wrote that she was unable to read the documents.

We were in such shock and just wanted to go home, Hissora said.

Representatives of the boat’s operators, Dive Pro Liveaboard, also repeatedly tried to get people to sign a waiver – survivors say – that would mean they agreed to a statement: “I am not accusing anyone of any crime.”

Justin Hodges, an American diver who was also rescued, told us that he was handed a “disclaimer document”, written in English, while giving a witness statement.

He said he thought the person he was talking to was an “officer” but at this point he found out he worked for the company.

“He got into the authorities,” says Justin. “The fact that he tried to get us to absolve ourselves at that point was crazy to me.”

At least some of the people we spoke to did not sign the document.

Everyone we spoke to said they were not allowed to keep copies of their statements, but the BBC was told some people managed to translate the documents on their phones. Many of them told us that the paperwork left out crucial, damning details that they had relayed orally.

“Everything about the condition of the life rafts and the safety issues on the ship are gone,” says Lisa.

Sarah and Hissora reported the same experience. “They just put in whatever they wanted,” Hissora says.

Survivors also say that from the outset the authorities seemed determined to blame the tragedy on a large wave.

This is despite many of those rescued saying the waves were not too big to prevent them from swimming. A leading oceanographer told the BBC that weather data from the nearest airport at the time strongly supported survivors’ memories.

Hissora asked if she could possibly see a copy of the investigator’s final report, but says she was told there was no need. “[It’s like] they already knew the cause was the wave,” she says.

When she asked again, Hissora said she was told he was “the only one responsible for this sea.” She believes the authorities had already made up their minds before the investigation even began.

Hissora’s concerns are shared by Sarah, who says the judges were also “very keen” that the survivors not blame anyone for the accident.

Several survivors say they were told that if they wanted to hold someone accountable, they had to name the individual and the specific crime they were accused of.

“Just because I couldn’t name the person and the crime, that didn’t mean someone wasn’t guilty,” says Sarah.

Dive Pro Liveaboard’s last attempt to get survivors to sign a waiver was made when one group tried to go to Cairo, Justin says.

After losing their passports at sea, he says the group was told by a company representative that the documents they were presented with were permission slips to pass through checkpoints.

“But then I got to the bottom and the last sentence is the same question about the release of liability,” – he repeats the one he says he was asked to sign when he gave his witness statement.

Justin says he went to warn the others and, when he returned to the man he believed was trying to seduce him, the papers “magically disappeared” and were replaced by more official-looking documents.

“My blood boiled,” he says.

The BBC has not seen the waiver documents or copies of them.

Family and friends of two missing Britons, Jenny Cawson and Tariga Sinade, from Devon, say they are constantly receiving partial and inaccurate news from the Egyptian government.

For example, after the disaster, they say they were told the ship had not been found – despite the fact that they saw survivors being brought ashore from the wreckage on TV. They call for an open investigation.

“The Egyptian authorities seem to be doing their best to kind of sweep this under the rug,” says one friend, Andy Williamson. “They want to protect their tourism industry.”

In March, a fire on another Dive Pro Liveaboard boat – the Sea Legend – killed a German tourist.

Last year, the independent consulting company Maritime Survey International produced a report on the safety of diving ships in the Red Sea. They inspected eight boats, although none were operated by Dive Pro Liveaboard, and found none had a “scheduled maintenance system, safety management system or stability book”, a key document to avoid capsizing.

It also found that design standards were “poor as all vessels lack watertight bulkheads, doors and hatches”.

It concluded that no vessel is safe and the dive boat industry in Egypt “trades largely unregulated”.