Sharm el-Sheikh: Brit feared drowned during holiday diving lesson in Eygpt

The Mirror - 

A British man is feared to have drowned after he failed to surface while scuba diving at a holiday resort in Egypt.

Steve Cracknell was having a routine diving lesson with his instructor off the coast of Sharm el-Sheikh when the pair went missing and a rescue mission has failed to find them.

Mr Cracknell, 46, from Yeovil, Somerset, is thought to have been on holiday with his wife and their two daughters when he went swimming in the White Knight dive site, a relatively shallow canyon, last Saturday.

Locals have reportedly been searching every day for the pharmaceuticals executive and his instructor, who were diving with a company located at the Savoy Hotel.

A friend of Mr Cracknell, who asked not to be named, told the Daily Telegraph: "I am just holding out hope and don't want to think about the accident.

"I can't imagine how his wife and daughters are handling this. My heart goes out to them.

"We are hoping for a good resolution, but we know that the longer they are missing the less likely it is that the result will be good."

Shinji Sato, a Japanese dive instructor living in Sharm el-Sheikh, told the paper: "They've still not found the bodies.

This kind of thing is incredibly rare. It never happens. "Everyone here is very upset. It's so sad."

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