Six people were killed and nine injured when a tourist submarine sank off Egypt’s Red Sea coastal city of Hurghada, security and medical sources told dpa on Thursday.

The tourist submarine, named Sindbad, was carrying 44 people of different nationalities on a cruise around the coral reefs in the Red Sea.

The sources added that 29 people have been rescued, with 21 ambulances dispatched to the scene.

The Russian Consul General in Hurghada, Viktor Voropayev, said that at least four Russian tourists were killed in the accident.

He told the Russian state news agency TASS that a total of 45 Russian tourists, including a child, were on board the vessel.

Another source, the Egyptian Security, said that the submarine suffered an engine failure, though investigations into the cause of the accident are ongoing.

It said that of the original 44 people on board, 33 survivors have been rescued.

“Several bodies were recovered while some people remain missing,” it said.

Authorities said that a large wave, called Sea Story, hit the boat and caused it to capsize.

In November, a tourist boat capsized off the Egyptian Red Sea coast, near Marsa Alam city.
(dpa/NAN)