About this tour

Salem Express Wreck in Hurghada.

The Salem Express was a former 115m long passenger ferry which sank in 1991 at great human cost just south of Safaga. The immense tragedy of this event makes diving the Salem Express a unique experience that leaves a lasting impression on most scuba divers. She rests on her starboard side on a flat sand bottom at 27m of depth, with the shallowest section at just 7m.

There is an undeniable eeriness to diving a wreck where the human tragedy is so evident. Lying on the sea floor are everyday personal items such as a handbag, a briefcase, a child’s tricycle. The ship’s lifeboats also lie next to the vessel’s hull. Diving the wreck has been a matter of controversy due to the numbers of lives lost. The official death toll is 470 lives, but estimates from the salvage operation put the number of recovered bodies at 850. The presence of human remains inside the ship means that the Salem Express was declared as a maritime tomb and penetration is forbidden, apart from in the cargo area. This means you can explore the whole wreck from bow to stern in one dive, but the site should not be disturbed.

At the bow, the ship’s anchors remain in position, as does the open bow door which allowed water into the car deck. The f fo’c’sle still has the anchor windlass winches mounted on it, along with ventilation ducts protruding through the deck. The port side of the doomed ship has many windows into cabins that gaze silently towards to surface. The companionway runs along the main deck from fore to aft, complete with handrails. The ship’s stern and views of the rudder are absolutely stunning. The Samatour Company logo can still be seen on the ship’s funnels.

You will likely start your dive by sinking down to the bow where you can see the impact damage and the open bow doors. Nearby is the captain’s bridge, part of which can be penetrated. Since the wreck lies on its port side you can fin along what was the upper deck gazing at the metal roof sheets that now lie scattered on the sea bed. Towards the stern you can see the unused lifeboats and penetrate the vehicle loading area. Rumour has it that since not all the bodies could be extracted part of the vessel was sealed closed forever.

The northern and southern edges offer wall diving with heavy coral and seafan coverage. Here you might see schooling snappers and trevally. You will spend the later stages of the dive around the starboard side where you can peer down into the cabin windows almost all of which are broken, presumably when removing the bodies. Inside there are seating and bunk beds some with mattresses still there, rising above the rusted springs.

Marine life is not one of the major attractions to diving here. Innumerable pipefish have made their home in the Salem Express, and schools of brightly coloured parrotfish and butterflyfish graze off the hull. There is still very little coral growth here. Whereas most wrecks seem like such distant events that there is little thought given to the victims, it is impossible to ignore the tragedy of the Red Sea’s Salem Express, and you may surface from this dive with more profound thoughts than just what fish you have seen.

It was on the 15 December 1991 that the Salem Express was steaming towards the Port of Safaga from Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). Onboard, were pilgrims returning from Mecca, and the ship’s passage had already been delayed for 2 days due to mechanical problems. Towards the end of the journey, the weather took a turn for the worse, with high winds and heavy waves buffeting the ship.

Captain Moro had skippered the ferry for 3 years and knew the waters off Safaga very well. He decided to take a familiar shortcut between the Hyndman Reef and the Egyptian coastline south of Safaga, instead of the recommended route to the north around Panorama Reef. What he hadn’t realized was that his bearings were out by almost 1 km and, just before midnight, the Salem Express struck the reef, tearing a gaping hole in the starboard bow and forcing the ship’s bow car doors to open, causing a huge influx of sea water.