CAIRO — An oil-drilling ship capsized within the Gulf of Suez, killing at the least 4 crewmen and leaving 4 others lacking, authorities mentioned Wednesday.
The drilling ship overturned Tuesday night off town of Ras Ghareb, on the African facet of the Gulf of Suez, the Purple Sea’s northwestern arm and a vital transport route, the Petroleum Ministry mentioned in an announcement.
There have been 30 staff on board when the drilling ship capsized, mentioned Amr Hanafy, governor of the Purple Sea province.
Rescue groups recovered 4 our bodies and rescued two 22 others who had been taken to hospitals, he mentioned.
He mentioned ships from the Egyptian navy joined the search-and-rescue efforts which had been nonetheless ongoing in a single day for 4 lacking crewmen.
It wasn’t instantly clear what precipitated the drilling ship to capsize and authorities say investigations had been ongoing. Native media reported it was being tugged for excavations in one other space when it overturned.
The capsizing occurred in an space referred to as Gabel el-Zeit, a distinguished Egyptian oil manufacturing web site round 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of the Suez Canal, the ministry mentioned in an announcement.
The capsizing was unlikely to trigger disruption to vessels transiting via the canal, which hyperlinks the Gulf of Suez to the Mediterranean Sea.