Rescued divers return to depths

Twelve European divers who went missing for 11 hours in the Red Sea off Egypt have returned to the depths just a day after they were rescued.

The five Britons, five Portuguese and two Belgians disappeared on Sunday during a week-long diving trip off the coast of al-Quseir.

The group drifted for miles from their boat in strong currents before being rescued by naval boats at 2015GMT.

The divers were back in the water continuing their holiday on Monday.

Search helicopter

An investigation is to be launched by the Red Sea Association for Diving and Watersports into what went wrong.

The group had been diving near the tiny island of El-Akhawein off the coast of al-Quseir, a resort 330km (205 miles) south of Cairo.

The party, led by British dive master Richard Hallam, were rescued by Egyptian naval boats after they were reportedly spotted in the water 25 miles from El-Akhawein by a search helicopter.

The four other Britons have been named as Paul Moulton, Geoff Woodfield, Bruce De Courcy and Alexandra Douglas.

Luxury vessel

A British Foreign Office spokesman told BBC News Online that all 12 of the divers were "safe and well".

On Monday, the group continued its trip on board the luxury dive vessel the Oyster, which set off on Friday from the Marsa Alam resort.

Everybody is doing diving today, they are getting back to normal George Saleed, Oyster Club

George Saleed, spokesman for trip organisers Oyster Club, said: "Everybody is doing diving today, they are getting back to normal.

"It was a long search and thank God that we found them in the end."

He said group leader Mr Hallam was a very experienced diver who had worked for the company for a while.

"He has done this dive many times and he has been working on the boat for a long time", he added.

A spokesman for the RSADWS, said two groups of divers had gone out on Sunday.

The first had returned after 45 minutes.

The spokesman said an investigation would be launched "to ensure we avoid this ever happening in the future".

The Red Sea is a popular destination for divers.

Diving enthusiasts are attracted by the area's picturesque shoreline and uncrowded diving.