Hope Fainting For Search Rescue Operation To Find 3 Russian Divers Alive, Egyptian Official Says

November 23, 2007 3:48 p.m. EST

Cairo, Egypt (AHN) - Egyptian official stated on Friday that the search for the three Russian divers who went missing in Red Sea waters during the past three days was losing its hope to find them alive.

On Wednesday, the three Russians who were identified by a local news agency as Vladimir Bukhmiller, Sergei Gurba and Natalia Doronina from Barnaul in Southern Siberia, went lost while diving at the Elphinstone Reef, southeast of the resort of Marsa Alam in the Red Sea of Egypt.

Alaa El Din Abdelgeleel of the Red Sea Association for Diving and Water Activities told the AP the chances of finding them alive are diminishing, since they have not been seen floating for three days now.

Russia's RIA Novosti reported that a total of 11 ships were engaged in the search rescue operation.

Abdelgeleel added that a helicopter hired by Doronina's husband had searched the site entirely on Friday.

The Red Sea is a renowned place for divers globally, but after a number of incidents resulting to the lost of some tourist divers, the government constricted controls over its dive centres.