Dozens killed in Egyptian blasts
Terror Attacks hit Egypt this morning…
If you are concerned about relatives in the affected area the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has set up a helpline on 020 7008 0000.
Our sympathies to all affected by this. Take care everyone.
July 23rd, 2005 at 11:34
I was there before blast, I was walking on the street when a bomb exploded. I just fell on the ground, I saw a masked man rushing toward me and has just got into a car… after that the police came, but they couldn’t find who was he, and where he has gone…
Khalid Ahmad, Sharm al-Sheikh
I haven’t seen a bomb and chaos since Lebanese civil war - I’m shocked, one minute of walking and I could be sending you this message from heaven
Cheikh Stefano El Douaihy
I just arrived now from Sharm. The explosions were so strong. I was in the hotel when it happened. I just left hours back to Cairo after the attacks. I am planning to come back, no explosions will stop me from visiting Sharm. Terrorists will never win.
Ahmed Khodeir, Sharm El Sheikh , Cairo, Egypt
I was just back from a night out and closed the room door. Seconds later the door and window of our hotel room blew open. We didn’t know why. A few minutes later there was another dull thud in the distance. I found out what had happened when my dad telephoned from the UK in the early hours. It is terrible news - the resort is just stunned this morning.
Ros Walker, UK
One explosion in Sharm el-Mya the old town, there seemed to be five or six in the Naama bay area, especially by the Movenpick hotel on the side of the main area of town and by Ghazala hotel which is destroyed. Many queues for taxis when another went off. People dead in the roads and in the rubble. A lot of flying glass and debris all over the place. I guess the Ghazala boats will not be diving tomorrow as their dive centre has been destroyed. The hotels at Ras um Sid and El Fanar areas remain unaffected. I am surprised this happened here as there is one road into and out of Sharm. This is policed at nearly every junction where you can exit. The bombers must still be around. I have been coming here for 15 years for diving, nothing like this has happened before, but the prices will go down again and we will keep coming. I feel sorry for the poor Egyptian people here as tourism is the only way this town survives.
Jon Seed, UK Lancashire
I was at Hard Rock café located in Naama Bay with some friends of mine when we heard loud noise and people screaming, we went outside as well as everybody else did, to see what was going on. The scene of dead bodies can not be described, it was extremely awful. I am terribly sorry for the dozens of people killed and the hundreds injured, may God be with them and their families.
Alejandro Perez, Madrid, España
I thought spending some time in Sharm al-Sheikh would be more peaceful than Beirut these days with my German girlfriend, after I heard about the bomb in Beirut I went out for a drink then I was 100 metres away and a bomb exploded, I haven’t seen a bomb and chaos since Lebanese civil war. I’m shocked, one minute of walking and I could be sending you this message from heaven. There is no word to describe this attack. This is not terrorism, this is evil.
Cheikh Stefano El Douaihy, Beirut, Lebanon
I did not witness the explosions, but me and my fiance were woken up at 0110 with a huge bang and windows rattling, we went onto the balcony and saw a gust of black smoke over Old Sharm, five minutes later we heard another loud bang and our apartment block shook, it was very scary. My fiance who is a medic went to the hospital to help out, it’s carnage in there!! This is a terrible devastation to Sharm, we have lived here for four years and always felt safe. I’m six months pregnant and thought we could bring up our child here and it would be a lot safer than the UK. How wrong we are.
Lisa Keany, Sharm, Egypt
We were in Sharm in September. Please do not be misled regarding the security of the area. Yes you do need to go through multiple checkpoints to get from Cairo to Sharm but in a country where back hand payments open doors this is not too difficult to get round. Most of the taxis in Sharm are private cars driven in by their owners and most originate from out of town. Ours came from Alexandria on the northen coast. The security in the hotels is a joke. All hotels have AMD’s (Archway Metal Detectors) and metal detection wands. They all have at least one security guard on the front door but still let people in and out with minimal fuss and checks. You see minibuses of armed police sitting at the corner of the street but hardly ever out patrolling or checking on people or property left unattended.
Clayton McCranor, Worthing Sussex
We live in a resort quite away from Naama Bay and Old Market, but we felt three explosions. First there was a very strong push against the window. The second one that we felt was so extremely strong, that I was about to run out of the house as I thought the house is bombarded. And the third one was when the windows only were shaking. My husband saw the huge smoke mushroom. In the hospital are many who have to get amputations.
Shari Meryem Hamed, Sharm el Sheikh
We had left the Naama Bay resort a couple of hours earlier. Everything was normal…the hustle and bustle of typical Egyptian life. We were awoken by the blasts at around 0100 from our hotel which is five km from the old town and 10 km from Naama Bay. We thought it was thunder. We had arranged to go on an excursion today so woke up at 0445. All excursions have since been cancelled and we are awaiting to find out whether we can get an early flight home. Thank God we had arranged the excursion as we would have stayed out later had we not.
Neil Cummins, Reading, UK
Working here as a diving instructor and living in Hadaba over looking the old market I was downstairs when I felt the house shudder, going to the roof where I can see old market there was a large cloud of smoke rising from it, this was half a mile away. Then the sirens started!
Michael Morrissey
Staying at the other Movenpick Hotel across the road. Woken at 1am by enormous flash of light, followed by tremendous blast. Sand and grit billowed from site; twisted, distorted metal was thrown out smashing windows. The force of the blast forced many of the locked doors open. Hotel staff kept everyone under control and advised everyone to head towards the beach. This was followed by a further blast further away, which caused less damage, but could still be felt. Only saw one minor injury caused by flying glass.
Holly and Rosemary Smith, Poole, Dorset
We were woken by the blasts this morning - it’s about a 5 minute walk from the blast area. This morning everyone seems to be acting normal but there is definitely an atmosphere around the place. We were contacted by our reps at 4.30am to check we were ok. There are talks of people leaving but we’re not going to let it ruin our holiday.
Hannah Barnes, Bedford
We’re in the hotel next door. The blast was the most frightening thing I have ever heard! The front of the hotel has been blown away. Everyone is in a state of shock and trying to get home.
Olivia and Julie Mills, Leeds
Seeing all the footage of our hotel in pieces has angered and saddened us all
Katie Walton, Twickenham, London
Myself and 3 friends had been staying at the Ghazala Gardens less than a week ago and we are all so shocked and shaken at this atrocity. Seeing all the footage of our hotel in pieces has angered and saddened us all. We were phoning home just a week ago to check the safety of our relatives and friends in London after the first bombings, and would never have imagined this could have happened where we were staying just few days ago.
Katie Walton, Twickenham, London
We arrived back from Ghazala Gardens hotel two weeks ago. The hotel staff are all lovely and really made our holiday something special, it’s terrible to hear that many of them have been hurt. Looking at the photos after the blast, it is unrecognisable. Our thoughts go out to the families of the staff who have been hurt or even killed, as most of the staff came to work there from Cairo and didn’t see their families very often.
Helen Clayworth and Mark Reid, Bolton, UK
I’m staying in Dahab, the other tourist area on the east coast of the Sinai Peninsula. It’s about 60 miles north of Sharm. People here are very sullen today and the area is quieter than usual. Locals are very upset that this has happened. This will devastate hundreds of families and the national economy.
Paul Carlin, Coleraine, Northern Ireland
I was asleep when the first blast went off. It was like an enormous crack of thunder. Lots of the people in the hotel we were staying in (about 1km from old Sharm market) were woken and standing on their balconies. Then we could hear scores of emergency vehicles moving around. Then two other blasts were heard. They sounded further away than the first two. Not being able to sleep I stayed up and watched international news to see the situation unfolding.
Peter Clark, Leeds, England
Heavy smoke was in the air and we also could see fire
Vanessa Victoria Halter, Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt
I was asleep, as a huge bang woke me up. My whole flat was shaking. I hardly trusted myself to get up and have a look. But as it always got louder and police cars sirens could be heard. Heavy smoke was in the air and we also could see fire. Then we heard another 2 explosions.
Vanessa Victoria Halter, Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt
We heard a strong blast. We leave not far away from the old market area. We rushed down on my scooter to the old market, just following a cloud of smoke. We saw 3 or 4 bodies in the parking area. The explosion took place in an area where only Egyptians gather (shisha bar) but all the stores around have been badly damaged and many cars too. The police and the fire brigade pushed us and the crowd away. A few seconds later I heard a further blast. In a few minutes we received phone calls from friends about 2 other blasts in Naama Bay, one in front of Ghazala casino the other one in the taxi parking area.
Claudio di Manao, Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt
I’ve just spoke to my mother who is in Naama Bay right now. She said she’s next to one of the hotels attacked. The windows of her hotel reception were destroyed by the wave of the blast. Police aren’t giving any information to tourists who are in the streets. She heard very powerful explosions.
Stefano Cappadona, Italy
One of my best friends is working in Naama Bay. She saw everything unfold from her room’s balcony. She tells me she is terrified and is unable to sleep because of all the panic. She said there were three bombings at the Ghazala Hotel and Movenpick.
Dina Nasser, Cairo, Egypt
Our room windows blew in and the door was blown open
Russel Arthey, Ashford, Kent
Staying in the Movenpick, front of the Ghazala hotel conference centre destroyed north of the main road though Naama Bay, many rooms in Movenpick damaged. Our room windows blew in and the door was blown open. We heard 2 bombs 4-5 mins apart. We have been told no casualties of staff or guests in Movenpick.
Russel Arthey, Ashford, Kent
We are holidaying in Sharm. Felt the doors shaking and a loud noise above our heads roughly 4 minutes apart. Our hotel is five minute drive from old Sharm and 15 minutes from Naama Bay. Feel very upset as my family and I could have been caught up in it all.
Mrs Patel, Midlands
My wife is in the area, on conference with several hundred people from the company at which she works. Colleagues heard the bomb a few kilometres away, and subsequently all staff were roused for a roll-call. It now seems that they will all be evacuated from the area and will return to Italy at the earliest opportunity.
Patrick Leclezio, Rome, Italy
We saw heavy smoke and billowing flames
Hector Pliego, Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt
My wife and I were asleep in our home about half a mile away from the old market when a loud explosion shook the house, and woke us up. It was 1.15am. We went out to the garden which overlooks old Sharm and saw heavy smoke and billowing flames. A few minutes later we felt several other explosions.
Hector Pliego, Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt
My family is here on holiday. Any news on the Brits involved in the blasts would be appreciated. Their names are: Sheila Ebeling, Harald Ebeling and Christian Ebeling.
Stewart Osborne, Nelson, South Wales
July 23rd, 2005 at 19:38
…purtroppo era prevedibile dopo Londra che altri attentati avrebbero sconvolto il mondo!! Tutta la solidarietà alle vittime e la più ferma condanna contro chi vuole far piombare la civiltà odierna nel nuovo medio evo!
unfortunately it was expectable after London that other attacks would upset the world!! All the solidarity to the victims