Britons hurt in Egypt bus tragedy

12 April 2012

Four Britons have been hurt when their tour bus overturned and burst into flames on a desert highway in Egypt, killing at least nine people and injuring 30 others.

Hours after the crash in the Sinai peninsula, the Foreign Office (FO) was still trying to determine just how many Britons had been aboard the bus.

Survivors spoke of the "hell" as the bus, en route from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to Cairo, overturned and how they'd had to jump to safety.

Many of the injured suffered severe burns after the fire turned the bus into a burnt-out shell.

Local officials said four Britons were injured and the Foreign Office said that it had been told the same figure by the Egyptian tourism ministry.

An FO spokesman said: "We are still trying to find out the exact number. Our honorary consul in Sharm el-Sheikh is touring the hospitals to which the injured have been taken."

Diana Argentieri, a 27-year-old Italian factory worker holidaying in Egypt with friends, said the bus rolled over three or four times. Speaking from hospital, she went on: "It all seems like a nightmare, but unfortunately it's real. The bus was going very fast and the road was in (a) bad condition. We were immediately scared by the speed."

She said the bus rolled off the road, down an incline and onto a rocky spur. As she made for an exit "there was a person on the floor, lying still, and other people bleeding".

The driver, Ali Haridi, said he lost control of the bus on a sharp curve in the highway at Abu Zenima, an area about 40 miles south east of the Suez Canal.

Local officials said the bus was carrying Canadians, Britons, Italians and other tourists from Eastern Europe. One Romanian and one Russian were believed to be among the dead.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT