Three Britons 'presumed dead' after boat fire - tour operator

Three British tourists missing aft a occurrence connected a dive vessel successful the Egyptian Red Sea are presumed dead, the circuit relation for the travel has said.

In a statement, Scuba Travel said the tourists' families had been contacted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Twenty-six different people, including 12 Britons, were rescued from the vessel called Hurricane, authorities said.

Initial reports suggest the fire, which started astatine 06:30 section clip connected Sunday, started aft an electrical fault.

The BBC has contacted the Foreign Office, which has not yet confirmed the deaths - but earlier a spokesperson said British nationals were being supported.

The vessel near Port Ghalib connected 6 June and been owed to instrumentality connected Sunday.

"It is with large regret that we, arsenic circuit operator, with dense hearts, indispensable judge that 3 of our much-valued dive guests... perished successful the tragic incident," said the connection from Scuba Travel.

"Our sincere and heartfelt condolences spell retired to their families and friends astatine this precise bittersweet time."

It said the 12 Britons connected committee had been contiguous astatine an early-morning briefing connected Sunday, and the 3 others who went missing were not arsenic they had "apparently decided not to dive" that morning.

All of those connected committee were described arsenic "qualified diving enthusiasts".

The connection said the "severity of the fire" meant that the 12 divers contiguous astatine the briefing were instantly evacuated to different vessel nearby.

They were followed by the 14 unit members, including the skipper and 2 dive guides, aft attempts to scope the missing guests were unsuccessful.

Scuba Travel said it had been moving with the boat's operator, Tornado Marine, since 2001.

Guests rescued from the vessel were brought connected enactment to the colony of Marsa Shagra, wherever they were provided with aesculapian assistance and are understood to person fixed statements to section police.

Scuba Travel added the British tourists rescued from the vessel were apt to instrumentality to the UK successful the coming week, and section authorities would behaviour a afloat probe into the fire.