10 Israelis killed in Sinai bus crash

10 critically hurt as bus carrying Israeli-Arab tourists overturns near Nueiba.

By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER, JPOST.COM STAFF
ambulances taba 298 ch1 (photo credit: Channel 1)
ambulances taba 298 ch1
(photo credit: Channel 1)
Ten Israeli tourists and an Egyptian working for their tour company were killed on Tuesday when a tourist bus overturned in the Sinai peninsula, an Egyptian police officer said. More than 30 others were believed wounded, 10 critically. The bus, one of a convoy of four vehicles carrying a group of Israeli-Arab tourists, overturned as it was travelling from Sharm e-Sheikh to Taba. It was thought that a flat tire caused the accident, Channel 2 reported. South Sinai Governor, General Mohammed Hani Metwalli and Dr. Said Eissa, the director of emergency services in the south Sinai, said 10 tourists were killed. Twenty-nine wounded passengers, two of them seriously injured and two others moderately, were taken to the Taba crossing Tuesday evening and evacuated by MDA ambulances to Yoseftal Hospital in Eilat. An official from Basal Tours - the agency that organized the trip - noted that the bus carried some 45 tourists coming from Nazareth, Kafr Manda and Kafr Yasif. He said the accident occurred on the last day of the 7-day visit in Egypt. Earlier, the Foreign Ministry was urging Egypt to allow the entry of Israeli emergency medical teams, though Egypt responded that the wounded were already being treated at local hospitals or transported to the border crossing at Taba. Likewise, MDA had appealed to the Egyptian Red Crescent, via the International Red Cross, to allow their ambulances to enter Nueiba and treat the accident victims. Israel's consul in Egypt was on his way to the scene from Cairo. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ilana Ravid said that the Egyptian authorities were being very cooperative. "Our embassy is in full contact with them and everything is OK," she said. Ravid added that the possibility of a terrorist attack has been effectively ruled out. The Sinai Peninsula has experienced several deadly terrorist attacks in recent years, killing dozens of people. AP contributed to this report.