African Tourism Board CEO Doris Worfel from Pretoria experienced a first-hand account on today’s terror attack targeting a tour bus with South African visitors on their way to see the Pyramids. All victims survived after a bomb went off injuring many passengers on the bus operated by Egyptian tour company Dominant Travel
Doris Woerfel, CEO of the African Tourism Board left Cairo for Johannesburg on Egypt Air flight MS 839 Sunday night and was able to get to know some of the victims of the attack.
Doris told eTurboNews: “We departed about one hour late because some of the passengers were unable to get on the flight due to their injuries. Egypt Air had to unload their bags before the plane was allowed to take off.
I was trying to calm down a lady who was constantly crying. She was very upset and her body was covered by small cuts. She was wearing a bandage on her arm.
She told me: “I was on a tour bus and the bus was attacked by terrorists and a roadside bomb exploded. There was a sudden pressure and a loud bang when we were passing by a new museum close to the Pyramides. Within seconds, there was broken glass flying around everywhere. It was like a shotgun hitting my face, my arms, and my husband’s legs. My husband was wearing shorts.
I was lucky enough to wear sunglasses. My glasses and my camera was damaged, but I didn’t have any injuries to my eyes. Many of the people on the bus not wearing glasses suffered serious eye injuries.
We had about 25 passengers on the bus, and first responders arrived almost instantly and were quick to take us to hospitals. The doctors and nurses were absolutely fantastic. They are my heroes. They really cared so much.
The Hon. Rania Al-Mashat, the minister of tourism for Egypt came to the hospital and was very sweet. She apologized for the incident and said she would do everything possible to help.
Some passengers only had minor injuries, and the minister arranged a private tour to see the Great Pyramid. The tour was accompanied by a special security team arranged by the minister.
African Tourism Board CEO Doris Woerfel added:” Its paradox. I had a meeting with Mr. Ahmed Yousef, Chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board at the Ministry of Tourism. I wanted to discuss cooperation with African Tourism Board and bring up the subject of safety and security. The chairman had to cancel the meeting and agreed to postpone our discussion.
Egypt remains to be an excellent destination like no other. I hope the country can quickly recover from today’s incident.
When I discussed the beauty of Egypt during the flight, the lady agreed but started crying again.
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