Cairo [Egypt], June 12 : Three British tourists have gone missing after a fire erupted on a boat they were travelling on in Egyptian Red Sea on Sunday, CNN reported citing state news outlet Al-Ahram. Rescuers are carrying out a search for the three missing tourists.
As many as 27 people, including 15 British tourists, were on board the boat off the coast of the city of Marsa Alam when the incident took place, CNN cited Al-Ahram report.
Of those, 24 people including 12 British tourists were rescued, while the search for other three is being carried out, the report said.
A spokesperson for the UK's Foreign Office in a statement said that they are "in contact with local authorities." The spokesperson further said that they are supporting the UK nationals involved, as per the news report.
The incident comes just days after beaches were closed in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada. The beaches were closed after a Russian man was killed in a shark attack.
Russian Consul-General Viktor Voropayev said that a Russian national who was born in 1999 "died as a result of a shark attack," CNN reported citing Russian news agency TASS.
According to the statement released by Egypt's Environment Ministry, Egypt's Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad ordered a committee to probe the incident.
Yasmine Fouad instructed local authorities to implement the "highest levels of safety for those who go to the beaches of the Red Sea" and to take all possible steps to avoid a recurrence of the shark attack incident again.
A specialised team was able to capture the "Tiger shark" that caused the incident to find the possible reasons for its attack and "to indicate whether it is the same fish that caused previous accidents," CNN cited the statement.
The Environment Ministry had also announced a two-day ban on swimming, including snorkelling and all other water sports activities in the area between Gouna to the north of Hurghada and Soma Bay to its south.
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