Salem Express

The Salem Express was a ferry bringing pilgrims home from Mecca via Jeddah when she struck the Hyndman Reefs in rough weather on a December night in 1991 and sank within minutes. The official toll was around 470 lives; unofficial estimates run far higher, and the scale of the loss shapes how the wreck is dived. She lies complete on her starboard side, huge and instantly readable - twin funnels marked with the company's initial, lifeboats on the sand, the bow visor ajar - and personal effects still scattered around the seabed make the human cost unavoidable. Many guides decline to enter the interior, and this database takes the same line: dive the exterior, keep voices and torch beams considerate, and treat the site as the grave it is.

The moment you come for: An intact, legible large ferry at recreational depth; the twin funnels and lifeboats; a powerful, somber atmosphere unlike any other Red Sea dive.

Topography: Large ferry lying on its starboard side on a sand seabed

Entry: Off the Hyndman Reefs south of Safaga - a long run from Hurghada, more often dived from Safaga or on southbound liveaboards.

Hazards: Emotional weight aside, the practical risks are entanglement around davits and cables and the pull to enter spaces best left alone.

Conservation: Widely treated as a grave site. Touch nothing, take nothing, and leave personal effects exactly where they lie.

Nitrox: Worth it here — profiles sit in the range where enriched air meaningfully extends no-stop time (with the training to use it).