For some, their hopes were shattered the moment their flight touched down on Egyptian soil. As they switched their mobile phones back on, all they could hear was the weeping of family members in Hong Kong or the calm voices of insurance agents, saying: 'We are very sorry to tell you that your relative has passed away in the bus crash.'
Most had probably thought they would be celebrating Lunar New Year with loved ones, but instead they were headed to a country where only sorrow would greet many of them. As they flew into Cairo, all they knew was that 14 of the 43 members of a tour group had been killed in a crash.
The tourists were travelling from Hurghada to Luxor to visit the architectural riches of ancient Thebes when the accident happened.
On Friday afternoon, the last group of relatives arrived at a makeshift mortuary at the Hurghada General Hospital, hoping to make sense of what had happened from the faces of the 14 broken and bruised bodies.
Squatting outside were 50 Muslims at their Friday prayer session. They faced the entrance of the mortuary - which happened to be the direction of Mecca. Who knows what their prayers were being offered for? Perhaps in their thoughts were the bereaved relatives filing out of the mortuary one by one with red eyes and heads down.
Grief overcame any apprehension as families returned to their hotel on a bus with the large words 'Sakkara Tours' painted on the sides. Salah Mahmoud, the driver of the ill-fated bus, was from the same company. Police believe he was doing at least 120km/h on the Safagah Highway when the bus overturned. He is being held in a prison in Cairo as the investigation continues.
The relatives were taken back to the five-star Hilton Hurghada Plaza after the mortuary visit, their mood out of sync with other holidaymakers - 10 young western tourists in bikinis were dancing to music blasting in the swimming pool between the lobby and the Red Sea.
