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

Survivors of the fatal sinking of a diving boat in the Red Sea say they were pressured to sign official witness statements in Arabic – which they did not understand and which had been translated from English by a shipping company employee.

They claim the man also tried to get them to sign waivers stating they weren’t accusing anyone of “criminal acts.”

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 a 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 found and seven people are still missing, including two British divers.

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

Tuesday, BBC reveals several survivors’ accusations of security lapses on board the ship. A leading oceanographer who analyzed the weather data also said it was not plausible that a huge wave hit the ship.

Hours after being brought ashore, the survivors say they were subjected to what was described as “interrogation”, some from their hospital beds, by people they said were judges.

Those who did not need hospital care were interviewed at a nearby resort, said other survivors, who reported the same feeling of pressure.

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

The judges were part of an Egyptian investigation into the causes of the sinking – although survivors say it is unclear who was heading the investigation.

The survivors claim that the translation into Arabic of their initial statements by an employee of the company that owned the Sea Story clearly constituted a conflict of interest.

Spanish diver Hissora Gonzalez said the man did not initially 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.

The survivors claim that after being translated by the man, their statements were given to investigators, which shocked Lisa Wolf. “A normal judge cannot accept a translation from a person who is obviously totally involved in the process.”

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

“We were in shock and we just wanted to go home,” Hissora said.

Representatives of the boat operators, Dive Pro Liveaboard, also repeatedly tried to push people to sign waivers – survivors say – which would have led them to agree to the statement: “I am not accusing anyone of criminal acts .”

Justin Hodges, an American diver who was also rescued, told us that the “exoneration of liability document”, written in English, had been given to him while he was giving his testimony.

He said he thought the person he was speaking to was “a civil servant” but then learned he worked for the company.

“He infiltrated the authorities,” Justin says. “The fact that he tried to absolve us of our responsibility at that point was insane to me.”

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

Everyone we spoke to said they had not been allowed to keep copies of their statements, but the BBC has learned that some people managed to translate the documents with their phones. Many of them told us that key, damning details they had conveyed verbally were not included in the documents.

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

Sarah and Hissora reported the same experience. “They put in what they wanted,” Hissora explains.

Survivors also say authorities seemed determined from the start to blame the tragedy on a huge wave.

This was despite many rescued people saying the waves were not too big to prevent them from swimming. A leading oceanographer told the BBC that contemporary weather data from the nearest airport strongly confirms the survivors’ memories.

Hissora asked if she could possibly see a copy of the investigators’ final report, but said she was told that was not necessary. “[It’s like] they already knew the cause was a wave,” she says.

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

Hissora’s concerns are shared by Sarah, who says the judges were also “very keen” that 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 a person and a specific crime they were accused of.

“Just because I couldn’t name the person or the crime doesn’t mean someone wasn’t to blame,” says Sarah.

A final attempt by Dive Pro Liveaboard to get survivors to sign waivers was made as one group attempted to leave for Cairo, Justin says.

Having lost their passports at sea, he claims the group was told by a company representative that the documents presented to them were authorization papers to pass through checkpoints.

“But then I get to the bottom and the last sentence is the same waiver of liability question,” a repeat of the one he was asked to sign when he gave his witness statement.

Justin says he went to alert the others and, when he returned to the man he said was trying to mislead him, the papers had “magically disappeared” and were replaced by documents more official in appearance.

“My blood was boiling,” he said.

The BBC has not seen the waiver documents or their copies.

Family and friends of two missing Britons, Jenny Cawson and Tarig Sinada from Devon, say they have consistently received partial and inaccurate news from the Egyptian government.

For example, after the disaster, they say they were told the boat had not been found, even though they saw survivors of the wreck being brought ashore on television. They are calling for an open investigation.

“It seems the Egyptian authorities are doing their best to brush this matter under the rug,” says friend Andy Williamson. “They want to protect their tourism industry.”

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

Last year, Maritime Survey International, an independent consultancy, produced a report on the safety of diving boats in the Red Sea. It inspected eight vessels, not including any operated by Dive Pro Liveaboard, and found that none had “a planned maintenance system, safety management system or stability books”, a document crucial to avoid capsizing.

It also found that design standards were “poor, with all ships lacking watertight bulkheads, doors and hatches”.

It concluded that no vessel was safe and that Egypt’s dive boat industry “conducts its trade largely in an unregulated manner.”