For technical divers, the Al Qamar Al Saudi Al Misr is by far the most requested wreck we go to and the general consensus from everyone we take is that it needs many dives to fully explore her. One guest even suggested that a 3 week diving holiday would not be enough to see all of this amazing Roll On-Roll Off Ferry.
With this in mind Tekdeep Safaris have scheduled a trip in 2016 that will be like no other wreck trip. 1 Full Week exploring the mighty Al Qamar Al Saudi Al Misr.
The AL Qamar AL Saudi AL Misr was originally built as the 7,697 GRT Roll On/Roll Off PAX-ferry Trekroner built at Cant. Nav. del Tirreno e Riuniti, Riva Trigoso, Genoa, Italy (Yard No. 281) for Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (translation: The United Steamship Company), Copenhagen, Denmark. The keep was laid in April 1967, she was launched 27 March 1970, and she was completed on 30 March of the same year. With a crew of 67, the ship was capable of carrying 718 passengers and 120 automobiles.
On 18 June 1994 was on the return trip from Jeddah to Suez with 527 passengers and 63 crew onboard, when late during the evening a boiler explosion occurred which is said to have started a major fuel oil leak in the engine room which ignited. The resulting fire quickly spread throughout the rest of the vessel. A “Mayday” was sent from the ship and various vessels responded to the call for assistance. Lifeboats were lowered and passengers began jumping overboard to escape the spreading fire. The USS Briscoe, a US Navy Destroyer, was the ship nearest to the Al-Misr at 25-miles away, raced to the scene and acted as the On-Scene Command Center during the rescuing of passengers and crew.
The Al-Qamar Al-Saudi Al-Misr burned throughout the rest of the night and eventually sank the following morning in 83 meters with a total of 50 injuries, 8 confirmed casualties, and 13 missing and later declared dead.
This will be one week on our very own Technical Safari Boat, MV Legends and you can learn more about the trip and reserve your places in our Safari Schedule by clicking here
Places will be taken quickly so don’t delay reserving your spot 🙂
