Egypt’s PM says attacked Giza tourist bus deviated from pre-planned, secured route

Egypt’s Prime Minister told reporters that the tour bus carrying 14 Vietnamese tourists and two Egyptian tourism workers, which was the target of a deadly attack Friday evening, deviated from its pre-planned, secured route without notifying security officials before it was hit by an improvised eplosive device.

Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly announced that the death toll, which was initially set at two Vietnamese tourists, had risen to three after the representative of the tour company on the trip succumbed to his injuries.

The PM said that the number of injured still under treatment stands at 10 with two in critical condition.

Madbouly pointed out that terrorism is a global phenomenon facing all countries, stressing that security forces in Egypt are taking the most necessary measures to combat the phenomenon, including strong pre-emptive strikes directed against terrorist spots.

The Egyptian Prime Minister added that “such sinful incident’ [like tonight’s] does not diminish the efforts of the state in protecting tourists in the country.”

Madbouly’s comments to reporters came after he concluded a visit to El-Haram Hospital to follow up on the status and treatment of those injured in the attack.

Earlier in the evening, Egypt’s Interior Ministry issued a statement saying that the explosion, which took place on 6:15 PM, had injured 10 of the 14 Vietnamese tourists on the bus in addition to their Egyptian bus driver and the representative of the tour company.

Prime Minister Madbouly told reporters that all tourstim trips and their routes are highly secured in a detailed manner by the interior ministry.

Madbouly explained that, however, the bus carrying the Vietnamese tourists deviated from the pre-determined, secured route without apriori notifying security officials.

“I just want to highlight that following the incident, all state bodies swiftly moved to help secure the tourists and offer the necessary care,” Madbouly told reporters.

Madbouly said the Egyptian authorities have been in contact with the embassy of Vietnam.

He said that 20 ambulances were immediately dispatched to the site of the explosion.

The Egyptian PM also highlighted that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is closely following up on the incident.

Source: Ahram Online