Cairo.- One hundred Greek tourists are at the Egyptian resort Sharm el-Sheikh and they are all well. On Saturday morning, the first Greeks who were in Egypt started arriving at the Athens Eleftherios Venizelos airport. The Greek Embassy and Consulate in Cairo are open to all Greek tourists seeking assistance. The Greek tourist agency “Marathon Travel” told NET that a group of Greek tourists who are in Sharm el-Sheikh and travelled through the agency are all well.
According to the representative of the Greek tourist agency “Pyramis”, Giorgos Rektsisnis, who is in Egypt, at the time of the attacks, most of the Greek tourists were staying at the hotels Intercontinental and Imper, in Pasha Bay, 5km away from the scene of the massacre.
He also mentioned that all the Greeks tourists in the area are well, adding, “34 people are part of a group, while the are another 40 individual travellers with the same agency. In addition, there may be other Egyptian Greeks in the area, since the resort is one of the most popular ones in the country.”
Greece denounced a car bomb attack on the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in Eygpt on Saturday that killed at least 88 people, and offered to send humanitarian aid.
“These abhorrent terrorist attacks against your country, which have brought the death of many innocent citizens, are condemned by all in the most absolute and categorical manner,” the president of the republic, Karolos Papoulias, said.
In a telegram to Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, Papoulias expressed Greece’s solidarity towards the Middle Eastern country and families of the victims.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis sent a letter to his Egyptian counterpart expressing his abhorrence for the attacks, and lamenting the loss of innocent lives.
“Greece totally condemns any act of violence and terrorism,” the premier said.
The leader of the main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement, George Papandreou, expressed solidarity with Mubarak and the victims’ families over loss of life in the tragic attack.
Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis informed his Egyptian counterpart that humanitarian aid would be sent, if requested. He also repeated the government’s commitment to combating terrorism.
Condolences were also sent by the Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology.
“Unfortunately the cycle of violence and bloodshed has expanded, which has been decisively fuelled by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Palestinian tragedy,” a party spokesman said.
The head of the Greek community in Cairo told the Athens News Agency in the Egyptian capital that he also condemned the attacks, which also aimed to strike a blow at the country’s tourism.
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