7 dead in Egyptian floods
2010-01-18 22:28
El Tor - At least seven people died in flash floods and heavy rains in southern Egypt and Sinai on Monday, including a British tourist who drowned when his boat capsized on the Nile, officials said.
The Ras Sidr area on the west coast of the Sinai peninsula saw the heaviest flooding on Sunday night, forcing rescuers to use rubber rafts to search for injured people and those trapped in their homes.
A woman died in Abu Sweira in the Ras Sidr area and a man was killed in Wadi Adani in central Sinai and at least 13 were hurt, a security official told AFP, adding that dozens were reported missing.
Flooding blocked main roads in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh and heavy rains brought down the ceiling in a part of the airport, an AFP correspondent said.
Parts of Sinai including Taba, Nuweiba and Sharm el-Sheikh experienced electricity cuts as thousands of tourists in the popular diving resorts spent the night by candle light, in the worst flooding to hit Sinai since January 1994.
Five ports were closed due to bad weather on Monday including Sharm el-Sheikh and Sokhna on the mainland.
Two people were also killed in the southern Aswan governorate where rains and floods collapsed more than 40 mud-brick houses, police said.
The British tourist was killed when winds toppled his boat in the Nile, in the Aswan region, and he drowned, they said.
Two people, including a young boy, were also killed in separate incidents in the Red Sea governorate and near the Sudanese border when their buses overturned, police said.
Dozens of people were also injured in the bad weather, police said.