4 Chinese students drown in Egypt's beach

CAIRO - Four Chinese students were drowned on Friday when they were swimming in the sea of Marsa Matrouh, an Egypt's northwestern coastal city, Chinese Embassy confirmed to Xinhua on Sunday.

The four were drawn into the sea because of strong winds and high waves there, a Chinese counsellor quoted local security sources as saying.

Xu Zhitian, a member of the panel dealing with the issue from the Chinese Embassy in Egypt, told Xinhua that the students are of two newly-married couples. One of them studies at Cairo University, other two in Al-Azhar University and the fourth is from Al-Azhar senior high school.

Marsa Matrouh, the capital city of Matrouh governerate, is a famous tourism resort in Egypt. The students visited the place during the holiday of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice.

Chinese Consulate General in Alexandria has asked local Chinese students not to swim in the Mediterranean Sea as winds and waves became strong recently in the area, Yang Yunsheng, consular agent of the consulate told Xinhua.  

There were two other Egyptian couples drowned on Friday in Marsa Matrouh due to bad weather in the sea area, state-run Ahram website reported on Saturday.

Egypt's tourism is well-known across the world due to some of the programs related to the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Nile. However,  accidents such as shipwrecks and drownings occurred frequently under the lack of supervision and incomplete facilities.