Nine Vietnamese victims of Egypt bomb attack return home

They were flown in on a Turkish Airlines flight.

The nine tourists were among a group of 15 Vietnamese tourists hit by a roadside bomb near Egypt’s famed pyramids.

The blast killed three Vietnamese people, including two tourists, Tran Hoa Khanh, 57, Nguyen Thuy Quynh, 58, and a 29-year-old tour Saigontourist guide, Nguyen Trong Tien. An Egyptian guide also died in the attack.

The group of nine Vietnamese people, two uninjured and seven slightly injured, have returned home first.

Three other tourists who sustained serious injuries are being treated in Egypt. Saigontourist has dispatched staff to take care of them, along with the relatives of the victims. They are recovering well and can return to Vietnam during the weekend, said a source from the company.

The Vietnamese embassy in Egypt is working closely with the local government to complete procedures to bring the bodies of three dead Vietnamese victims home on a special flight scheduled on Wednesday.

One of those heading to Egypt was Nguyen Nguyen Vu, whose sister Nguyen Thuy Quynh, 56, died in the bombing, while her husband, Le Duc Minh, was wounded.

The couple were in the seafood business and were taking holiday to Egypt, Quynh’s younger brother said.

"We were all very shocked... My sister and her husband travel quite a lot and they are quite experienced in traveling abroad. Their hobby is traveling," Vu told AFP.

The bus carrying the Vietnamese tourists was on the way to a restaurant for dinner Friday night before departing for Vietnam when it was hit by a roadside bomb placed near a wall along Mariyutiya Street in Al-Haram District.

Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli (2nd-R) visit one of the victims of an attack on a tourist bus carrying Vietnamese tourists close to the pyramids Friday night, at a hospital in Al-Haram district in the Egyptian capital Cairo's western twin city of Giza. Photo by AFP

The bombing was the first deadly attack against foreign tourists in Egypt in over a year and came as the tourism sector, a vital foreign exchange revenue source, was recovering from a sharp drop in visitor numbers since the country’s 2011 uprising, Reuters reported.

Egyptian authorities have launched an urgent investigation into the bomb attack, for which there has been no immediate claim of responsibility.

Following the deadly attack, Vietnamese travel agencies have suspended Egypt tours.