ADES jack-up capsizes off Egypt, killing at least four

A serious maritime incident involving the capsize of a jack-up barge in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez has killed at least four of the vessel’s crew and left at least three others missing.

When the incident occured on 1 July, the barge, Admarine-12, owned by Saudi Arabia-headquartered drilling contractor ADES, was being towed to a new location. The barge was offshore the Gabal El Zeit area in the southern stretch of the Gulf of Suez, south of the Suez Canal, near the Red Sea. 

Some 30 crew members were on board Admarine-12 at the time of the incident, ADES said, including 18 of its own employees. At least four were killed in the incident with some crew still missing, with search and rescue operations underway.

"At the time of this announcement; 23 have been safely rescued, three remain missing and subject to intensive ongoing search operations by the relevant authorities and tragically, the incident resulted in the loss of life, including three fatalities among ADES personnel and one fatality among personnel contracted by third parties," a statement from ADES said.

The company said it is offering support to the families of crew impacted by the event.

Saying only that the capsize was a towing incident, ADES made a statement on 2 July, while Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said it had received a report from Offshore Shukheir Oil Company (OSOCO) on 1 July alerting the ministry that the barge had capsized.

Posting on social media platform Facebook, Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum said it initiated an emergency plan "as soon as the incident occurred," deploying rescue teams in the Gulf of Suez including naval and air responders using waterborne rescue equipment and aircraft to aid and recover surviving crew and "co-ordinating with the state authorities to quickly rescue the survivors".

The Egyptian ministries said the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi and Minister of Labour Mohamed Gobran, accompanied by senior officials from both ministries, travelled to the site of the incident to assess the situation, oversee rescue operations, and monitor immediate response measures taken to manage the crisis.

ADES said "a full and thorough investigation into the incident will be conducted".

Jordanian independent news agency Akhbar Alyoom News Agency said Admarine-12 sank while being towed by three marine units to a new work site on the Ashrafieh platform when a technical malfunction caused an imbalance that capsized the vessel quickly. 

Jack-up barges are used as stable platforms for construction or drilling operations in shallow waters, and Akhbar Alyoom reported that ADES Holding had signed an agreement with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corp to implement long-term services aimed at increasing the productivity of ageing fields, in partnership with SOCO and OSOCO. 

مشاهد متداولة لما قيل إنها لحظة انقلاب البارج البحري "Adam Marine 12" بمنطقة جبل الزيت بخليج السويس #الشرق_مصر #الشرق_للأخبار pic.twitter.com/vZT1rXsWbI

— الشرق للأخبار - مصر (@AsharqNewsEGY)

مشاهد متداولة لما قيل إنها لحظة انقلاب البارج البحري "Adam Marine 12" بمنطقة جبل الزيت بخليج السويس #الشرق_مصر #الشرق_للأخبار pic.twitter.com/vZT1rXsWbI

— الشرق للأخبار - مصر (@AsharqNewsEGY) July 1, 2025