Blasts kill 88 in Egyptian Red Sea resort
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-23 08:49

Bombs ripped through shopping and hotel areas in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday killing at least 88 people and wounding 200 in Egypt's worst attack since 1981.

The site of a bomb blast at a market place in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, July 23, 2005. [Reuters]

Shaken tourists spoke of mass panic and hysteria as people fled the carnage in the early hours, with bodies strewn across the roads, people screaming and sirens wailing.

The regional governor said two car bombs and possibly a suitcase bomb had rocked the resort, popular with divers, European holidaymakers and statesmen who have attended world summits in the place Egypt has called "the city of peace".

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak (L) listens to top officials as he tours the bombed areas in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt July 23, 2005.[Reuters]

One blast tore the front off the Ghazala Gardens Hotel in Naama Bay, the site of most of the resort's luxury hotels. A car broke into the hotel compound and exploded in front of the building, South Sinai Governor Mustafa Afifi said.

"There was a blast then a fireball ... Everyone panicked," said Dutch tourist Rene von Denberg, who was sitting at a cafe smoking a water-pipe when the bomb hit the hotel.

"It felt like an earthquake. It was an almighty boom and the whole hotel was covered with dust," added Londoner Robert Hare.

An official source at Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital said there were 88 dead and about 200 injured. Egyptian authorities flew many critically injured people to Cairo.

Most of the victims were Egyptians but the Tourism Ministry spokeswoman said seven non-Egyptians were dead, including a Czech and an Italian, and 20 were injured.

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