Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) in Luxor issued a statement in which it officially expressed condolences to families of the victims of a balloon crash after catching fire while flying over the village of Dabayaa in Luxor (320 miles south of the capital Cairo) which caused the deaths of 19 European and Asian tourists and wounding two others.

An FJP official statement urged health authorities to provide the best medical-care service to those injured who are being treated in a Luxor hospital, hoping for a speedy and full recovery from their injuries.

Ramadan Abdel-Hamid, FJP Secretary in Luxor, called on the media to refrain from exploiting the incident, which – according to security sources – had neither criminal nor terrorist links, since it was the result of a cable getting caught on a helium tube causing a gas leak.

Earlier, Dr. Ezzat Saad, Governor of Luxor, ordered a halt to all balloon flights in Luxor until the Civil Aviation Authority completes a technical investigation to clarify the reasons behind the crash.

Dr. Saad, on the crash site immediately after the balloon accident, said that President Mohamed Morsi had called him after the incident directly to urge best treatment and care for tourists and the injured. He further said that Dr. Hisham Qandil, the Prime Minister, also called him to follow up the situation first hand.

During his visit to the injured balloon passengers at Luxor International Hospital, the governor affirmed the arrival of a Civil Aviation Authority technical committee to determine the circumstances of the disaster, noting that the number of deaths reached 19 of different nationalities (Japanese, English, French, Hungarian, Egyptian and Chinese from Hong Kong), while there were two injured passengers at Luxor International Hospital for treatment.

Dr. Saad reaffirmed that the crash was simply an accident, had nothing to do with terrorism, was the first of its kind in Luxor, and that rescuers were on the scene in record time, which helped save the two passengers now receiving treatment at hospital.