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Taba Hilton following the blast, showing western wing collapsed
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| By israelinsider staff October 8, 2004 |
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A massive explosion rocked the Taba Hilton in Sinai on the Israeli border. There are reports that the lobby has collapsed and a fire has broken out.
The blast was caused by truck bomb, possibly combined with a suicide bomber who reportedly detonated near the hotel swimming pool.
News agencies report at least 35 dead, but the death toll is expected to rise. As of 9:30am, 24 bodies have been discovered at the Taba Hilton, 5 of them identified as Israelis. Two Israelis are known to have been killed at Ras-a-Satan. But 38 Israelis are reported still missing, although some may be still in Sinai, out of cellphone contact.
More than 160 people have been injured, Egpytian sources reported. 122 are being treated in Israel, some at the small Yosef Tal hospital in Eilat and others in hospitals throughout Israel.
About 15,000 Israelis were in Sinai at the time of the blast according to travel companies. The attack happened at the end of a week-long Jewish holiday, and at the beginning on an Egyptian holiday celebrating the beginning of the 1973 war with Israel, which Egypt considers a victory.
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Security officials say that the Egyptians initially did not allow Israeli rescue forces to enter the country to help the wounded and recover people from under the hotel's rubble. But later on units of Magen David Adom were seen helping victims at the Taba.
Sari and Herzl David, of Holon, were on their way south from Israel to the Taba Hilton casino and had passed through Egyptian passport control when they heard the explosion.
"We were in the border crossing heading in the direction of Taba. When we heard the explosion we began to run in the direction of Israel but the Egyptians aimed their weapons at us and pushed us up against a wall. We were some 50 people. It was terrifying," Sari said.
Ras-a-Satan idyll shattered
Additional car-bombs exploded in Ras-a-Satan, some twenty miles south, a favorite place among young Israelis for its totally detached tranquility. Two Israelis were reportedly killed in those blasts, along with several Egyptians. Egyptian TV reports dozens wounded, most of them foreigners.
Two explosives-packed jeeps pulled up near straw huts where people were relaxing after dinner and detonated.
"There was a huge explosion -- a truck just exploded -- it was the biggest most unimaginable explosion, and it was right in the middle of where everybody was camping," a young couple who declined to be named told a reporter from Channel 2 TV as they crossed back into Israel at the Taba crossing. "The Bedouins seemed indifferent, but Israelis were helping one another," they said, "tying tourniquets and treating those injured."
Nir Tabenchik was in Ras-a-Satan. "I will not come back even though Sinai was a paradise on earth for me too. I saw a huge mushroom cloud. I wanted to get out of there. There was fear the next attack would occur on our beach."
Yossi Ben Yishai was also there. "We heard the first explosion, woke up and then heard the second blast. The Bedouins then took us to the mountains and we hid there till morning."
"Gates of hell" opened at Taba Hilton
Eyewitness reports tell of a tremendous blast, which brought down the hotel lobby and the western wing of the Hilton hotel.
"The gates of Hell suddenly opened," an Israeli doctor, a guest at the shattered Taba Hilton, told Channel 1 television Thursday.
"I heard a huge explosion. The wall near me collapsed and people began to run. There were many casualties... The
explosion was outside. When we went out we saw the shops and the internal wall of the hotel had collapsed," the witness, called Yigal, told Army Radio.
"Some people it was a gas canister explosion and others said it was a terrorist attack. There are a lot of people [lying on the ground]. There is a lot of blood, a lot of screaming," he added.
"The whole front of the hotel has collapsed," he said. "I am standing outside of the hotel, the whole thing is burning and they have nothing to put it out with. There is nothing here."
The Faragon family had finished eating dinner in the hotel restaurant when they heard a huge explosion. "We were in the lobby. The children were playing one floor down and then we heard the blast," said Meir, the father.
"Everything filled with smoke and we were unable to see anything because the electricity went out. We started to look for the children hysterically. First we found the two big boys, aged 10 and 14, but our six-year-old, Amos, was missing."
Amos, who was being carried into Israel on his father's arms during the interview, said: "I was playing with an Arab boy. Suddenly there was a big blast, and I couldn't see anything and my brothers disappeared. An Arab man came to me and took me outside. I forgot to ask his name but he is my friend."
Sheli Gafni was one of the thousands of Israelis who cut their vacation short and headed back to Israel. "We were at the Marriott Hotel and suddenly heard a huge explosion," she recounted. "We opened the television and immediately came to realize that a terrible terror attack had taken place at the Hilton. We tried to call our friends at Ras-a-Satan but until now they haven't answered their cellphones."
Gafni and her husband deliberated whether to return to Israel. "We decided not to leave at once since we have two small children and we preferred to wait until they wake up. This is the last time I am coming to Sinai. We saw the hotel and it was a horrible scene. We had noting in our minds except getting out of there."
Saleh Badir from Kfar Kassem was on the tenth floor of the Taba Hilton. "We heard a huge explosion and all the windows shattered in our face. We ran down and found our friend injured from shrapnel. I saw some terrible things. Bodies, children injured, people screaming."
There are reportedly street celebrations in Gaza and in Cairo.
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