The tourist boat with 31 tourists and 14 crew members was on a several-day-long diving trip.
According to a regional authority representative, they are now searching for 16 people, which is an update from the previously reported 17 missing. Four of them are Egyptians and 12 foreigners.
On board were people from Belgium, the United Kingdom, China, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA, according to AFP.
"Big wave"
Finland's Foreign Ministry tells AFP that one citizen is missing. Poland's Foreign Ministry cannot comment on whether the two Poles on the boat have been found or not.
28 people have been rescued so far, including two Norwegians who, according to NRK, are "in good health".
According to a local governor, the initial reports indicate that "a sudden and big wave" hit the boat and caused it to capsize within five to seven minutes. Some passengers could not escape because they were in their cabins at the time.
A surviving crew member is said to have stated that the ship "was hit by a wave in the middle of the night, which threw the ship on its side".
Many Swedes in the area
The diving boat was supposed to have left the port of Ghalib near Marsa Alam on Sunday for diving at Shaab Sataya, also known as Dolphin Reef. The trip was then supposed to end in the larger tourist resort of Hurghada on Friday. But as early as Monday morning, the ship sent out a distress signal. Then, contact was lost and the boat disappeared from the radar, according to The Sun.
Egypt's tourist resorts on the Red Sea are also popular among Swedish travelers.
We have around 500 Swedes in the area now, but no signs that any of them were on board the ship, said Adam Györki, Nordic communications manager for Tui, earlier on Monday.
Neither Ving has any travelers who have been affected.
In an email response at 20:00, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes to TT that they have no new information about Swedes being on board the boat.
