Yesterday, Sunday 19 May, a tourist bus with mostly South Africans on board was struck by an exploding bomb.
The tour bus was en route to Giza, where the tourists where going to view the famous pyramids, when a roadside bomb exploded. According to security and medical staff, 17 people were injured, including South Africans among other touring foreigners. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) confirmed today that three South Africans were part of the 17 injured. Victims were taken to local hospitals, and fortunately no deaths were reported.
This explosion is only the latest bomb to threaten safety in the country and its shaky tourism industry, with a trend of deadly attacks which emerged from the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 that has been ongoing since. The last attack happened just close to six months ago in December in which some Vietnamese tourists were fatally injured in Cairo also from a bomb hitting a bus they were travelling in.
The South African ambassador to Egypt Vusi Mavimbela was in contact with the authorities as well as hospitals to verify information about the victims before reporting back. Images circulating on social media show the bus parked to one side of the road, a series of large cracks running across the front windshield. The bus was driving past the construction site of the new Grand Egyptian Museum. According to Dirco, there were 28 South Africans on board, the rest of who will return today, Monday 20 May.
‘Minister of international relations and cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu wishes those admitted in hospital a speedy recovery and has also directed South Africa’s ambassador to Egypt to give them all necessary support,’ Dirco spokesperson Ndivhuwo Mabaya told the Sunday Times.
Image by Unsplash
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