A collision between two cruise vessels occurred on Sunday evening, December 21st, on the Nile River south of Luxor near the Esna Lock, resulting in the death of an Italian holiday-maker and significant structural damage to both ships. Egypt’s General Authority for River Transport reported that the vessel Opera, which had transited the Esna Lock and was proceeding upriver from Aswan to Luxor, was struck broadside by Royal Beau Rivage, a floating hotel cruise ship underway in the opposite direction toward Aswan, after a sudden and unexpected manoeuvre. Investigators indicated that the contact violated established river navigation rules, which accord right of way to vessels moving with the current.
The force of the impact damaged the bow of Opera and destroyed multiple cabins aboard Royal Beau Rivage. One passenger, a 47-year-old Italian national travelling with her husband, sustained critical injuries and later died in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Esna; authorities have identified her and confirmed the fatality.
In the aftermath, the river transport authority revoked and suspended the licence of Royal Beau Rivage’s captain and referred the matter to the competent prosecutor’s office to determine legal responsibility and further circumstances surrounding the collision. No additional serious injuries among passengers or crew have been reported, and measures were undertaken to stabilise the situation and maintain navigational continuity along this heavily trafficked stretch of the Nile.
The Esna Lock forms a key transit point on the Nile corridor between Luxor and Aswan, regularly traversed by hundreds of floating hotels carrying large numbers of tourists, particularly during the winter season when river traffic intensifies. Compliance with right-of-way and other navigational protocols is critical in this constrained area to prevent such incidents, and previous minor collisions have occurred in the vicinity without severe outcomes.