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Barclay Crawford

Paul Tsang

Police were on the scene within five minutes and ambulances within 10, says Egypt's Hong Kong consul

Travel agencies  yesterday either refused to comment on, or rejected, claims that they had tour buses passing the scene of Tuesday's bus accident in Egypt which claimed the lives of 14 Hongkongers, and that occupants had ignored cries for help from the injured.

Some offered the defence that it was illegal to stop in the middle of a highway and that doing so could have jeopardised the safety of tour groups on other buses.

Egyptian consul Ismail Wahid also dismissed the suggestion that police or drivers of the other buses had not stopped to help those in the crashed vehicle.

'We would have been told if there was a problem with the police escort not stopping and in Egypt this would simply not happen. There were police on the scene in five minutes and ambulances within 10.'

An angry crash survivor earlier accused fellow Hong Kong holidaymakers and their tour escorts of being 'cold-blooded' for refusing to stop to rescue people trapped under the overturned  coach.

Wing On Travel, Morning Star Travel, Hong Thai Travel, S.K.Y. Travel and Goldjoy, which operate tours to Egypt, were contacted for comment yesterday.

The first two did not respond directly.

Susanna Lau Mei-sze, general manager of Hong Thai Travel, said it was still not known whether buses passing the accident had been carrying Hong Kong tourists.

'At first, no evidence showed those buses were carrying Hong Kong tourists. They may have been carrying mainland or Taiwanese tourists. And second, it is not permitted to stop on the highway for safety reasons,' she said.

Candy Cher Yuk-yee, head of operations at S.K.Y. Travel, echoed Ms Lau's comments. She said the risk of terrorist attack could be another concern.

'The place had a history of terrorist attacks and the buses [passing by]  would not have known if the accident was in fact the result of an attack,' she said.

Buses for tours to Luxor gather at Hurghada before 7am every day in the tourist season for the three-hour drive. Heavily armed police block all local roads as the convoy of buses travels to the temple area.

Ms Cher said all buses leaving Hurghada had to be escorted by armed military vehicles and they had to arrive at a set time at a specified place to join the convoy.

'There had been cases that some buses missed the time and they had to pay more to hire another military vehicle,' she said, but refused to speculate if this might have been a factor in the accident.

A Hong Thai Travel guide said on an RTHK programme yesterday that she suspected that the bus driver had been rushing to reach the control point in time.

'The security checkpoint [near Hurghada] opens twice a day. If you miss the morning opening, the next one might be at noon. In that case, when you get to Luxor, it would be evening and too dark to see anything,' said the tour guide. She said speeding was unlikely if the bus was travelling in convoy with up to 30 others.

But Jetour, the operator of the bus that crashed, said it  definitely had no need to rush to scenic spots, additional attractions or checkpoints before the crash.

Joseph Tung Yao-chung, the executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong,  called for overseas tours to help each other at times of emergency.

Roger Hong, deputy general manager of Goldjoy Travel, said they had done so already. Some of its tour guides had volunteered to visit the victims in hospital upon learning of Tuesday's accident.

Mr Hong, who also rejected the survivor's allegation, said there were several army checkpoints on the highway from Hurghada to Luxor and that it was unlikely an accident would have gone unheeded.

Tourists in Egypt have to travel under a police escort after a law was introduced following the 1997 murder of 58 tourists in Luxor by Islamic extremists.

Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya gunmen, who had trained at Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan, were responsible for what terrorist experts now consider one of the first suicide terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists.

To reassure visitors and prevent further attacks, the government introduced security measures, especially around the popular tourist sites of Abu Simbel and Luxor.

HELPLINES

Federation of Insurers' hotline for insured travellers in crash: 2861 9303 (office hours)

Social Welfare Department number for emotional support and welfare assistance  6293 0120 (24 hours)

Jetour agency hotlines: 2111 2871 and 2111 5101 (24 hours)



Buses didn't ignore wreck, say agents