A young father of two drowned Sunday at Cosmos Little Egypt, a theme park featuring replicas of Egypt’s major attractions, yet which was devoid of lifeguards or employees on-the-scene.
Walking along one of a replica waterway, a three-year-old boy slipped and fell into it. His father jumped after him, but both started sinking.
“I jumped after them to try and save my family,” Afaf Emad, the mother, said. But the soil was slippery and the water suddenly deepened, causing her to start drowning as well, she said. “I was told the water is 7 metres deep.”
Another man jumped in to try and save them, only to join the drowning family until a third man helped the stranger and the little boy out. A woman was able to pull the mother out of the water, yet her husband had disappeared by then.
“I screamed like a madwoman ‘someone save my husband’, but not one lifeguard or janitor was around,” she said.
When Daily News Egypt visited the village in November, the 190 feddans (197 acres) were devoid of tour guides, employees, and janitors. The village management refused to lease a tour guide, and asked us to leave if we do not approve.
After over 10 minutes, a thin man came along, jumped into the water for a minute without success and refused to continue searching for the missing man. “The water is cold,” he told Emad simply.
The manager of the armed forces run village then appeared, telling them to search for Mohamed on the “shores” as the “current” of still water ponds might have pushed him away.
Half an hour later, four employees joined the search party, refusing to search at the location where he fell, sticking to the “current” theory, Emad said.
“We called the security, but they were not responsive,” the mother said.
An hour later an ambulance came and attempted to sedate her. The manager had disappeared, and the employees had lost hope, she said.
She sought help from her brother, and more than two hours after the incident a river rescue team arrived.
The body was found three and a half hours after Mohamed fell into the water.
“How could there be no fence around a seven metre deep water body? How could there be no trained rescue employee? Not one life ring?” Emad stated.
When they went to file a report, they were told at the police station that two people, an employee and a 17-year-old girl, had drowned at the place before.
The village cost approximately EGP 290m and is located in 6th of October City on the Fayoum road. It was first built in 2007 and completed in 2011, but was never officially opened after successive political events.
