Mexico: Egypt's Screw-Up Killed Our 8 Tourists

Tour guides say group had stopped for a picnic
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 16, 2015 12:33 AM CDT
Mexico: Egypt's Blunder Killed 8 Tourists
Egyptian journalists wait for information in front of the Dar Al Fouad Hospital in Cairo.   (Nariman El-Mofty)

Mexico's Foreign Relations Department says embassy personnel in Egypt have identified six more bodies as those of Mexican citizens killed in an air attack by Egyptian police and military forces. The deaths of two Mexicans had earlier been confirmed, bringing the total number of Mexicans killed to eight. Six other Mexicans were wounded in the attack, and the department says their condition is stable. There were 14 or 15 Mexicans who were traveling on a desert oasis tour at the time when Egyptian forces hunting militants in the country's Western Desert mistakenly opened fire on several vehicles, killing 12 people on Sunday. The other dead are believed to be Egyptians.

In an open letter to the Mexican people, Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs promised a thorough and impartial investigation and said the facts of the case remain "confusing." "We still do not know if the convoy was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, or if some error was involved," he said, promising that Egypt will "do its utmost to help in any way it can." Egyptian authorities initially claimed the group had no authorization to be in the area, but the country's tour guides' union says the group had a permit and, accompanied by a police officer, had stopped for a picnic when a military helicopter attacked, BuzzFeed reports. (More Egypt stories.)

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