DAHAB: It was like war. I d never seen anything like it before, a child, a baby, blood everywhere, said German doctor Michael Hartlich, shaking at the memory, and tears in his eyes. A boy died in my arms. As the sun rose Tuesday over the Red Sea, the appalling destruction of three deadly explosions remained littered through the Egyptian holiday resort of Dahab. Flies hovered over patches of blood caked with mud. The lingering acrid smell of burnt flesh laced the sea breeze. Tearful but stoical, holidaymakers and resort workers recounted the chaos that decimated their idyll on Monday s traditional spring holiday and the eve of Sinai Liberation Day commemorating the end of Israeli occupation in 1982. Sirens went off. People were running around. Police on the streets, Firemen, It was like organized chaos. People were picking up bits of people. It was crazy, said 42-year-old diving instructor Paul McBeath from Scotland. He has lived and taught in Dahab for four years. One of his colleagues at the Red Sea Relax school was blown from the shopfront to the seafront by the force of one of the almost simultaneous explosions. At a restaurant named after notorious gangster Al Capone that was gutted by the same blast, uneaten plates of congealed chips remained on tables, half-finished fruit cocktails in glasses. In the bazaar, smashed spice stalls and perfume jars oozed a sickly stench as locals sat staring into space, fighting the urge to cry, and shopkeepers with light bandages shifted through mountains of broken glass and goods. I saw a lot of bodies, a lot of wounds and a lot of mess. The place was completely destroyed, said 32-year-old Internet cafe owner Ibrahim Sadek. On holiday in Dahab for the past week, Hartlich ran within minutes of hearing the explosions to help with horrific casualties. One dead man had his brain out. I sent one baby boy with a leg cut off to surgery in Sharm El-Sheikh. A boy died in my arms. He had severe chest injuries. He was sitting in the Chinese restaurant, Hartlich said. The doctor worked through the night at the local clinic worse than even a jungle hospital without even water to wash his hands. Security and medical officials said the carnage left 24 dead, with the number continuously fluctuating. Some body parts had been attributed to different people when in fact they belonged to the same victim, they said. Security officials said at least two of the three explosions shortly after 7 p.m. (17:00 GMT) were caused by suicide bombers. Dahab, more affordable than the Sinai resorts of Sharm El-Sheikh and Taba which were both hit by attacks since 2004, attracted Europeans and Egyptians alike with its coral and pink mountains behind deep blue seas. Business had been booming for Easter. Egyptians had escaped the dust of the cities for the glorious sun, sea and diving marvels of Dahab, which means gold in Arabic. With Dahab boasting some of the best diving in the world according to local instructors, businessmen fear their livelihoods have been pulverized by departing tourists and gruesome international television footage. There will never be tourism in Dahab again or in Egypt. I m worried about my friends, I m worried about my future, said 24-year-old jeweler Hani Sadek Mikhail, who came looking for a better life from the Nile Delta. One of his colleagues had a leg amputated and another had his face blown off. Following the third Sinai bomb attack in 18 months, many foreigners already knew they were taking a risk by staying in the Sinai. There have been bombs up and down the coast. You d have to be pretty stupid to think nothing could happen here, said Jason Lovett, a 36-year-old diving instructor from New Zealand who has worked in the resort for three years. Others rushed to leave the resort. We come here because it s so calm. We love it because it s very Egyptian … I love this place but I don t think I ll come back, said regular Dahab tourist Jean-Marie Simon, 60, from France. A cruiser liner shimmered on the horizon in the morning haze while rescue workers and swarming journalists picked their way through the rubble leaving locals begging why . Stop violence everywhere. Message to governments: stop war from Dahab, said a chalked message on a blackboard outside one bar. This is the third time its happened in Sinai. I don t know why. I think it s bin Laden, said one local tradesman, referring to Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, from whom an audiotape was released on the eve of the bombings. AFP
Sinai bombings turn resort town into war zone
