wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] PC(USA) missionary, son escape serious injury in

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8517 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04448
October 8, 2004

Safe at ground zero

PC(USA) missionary, son escape serious injury in Egypt hotel bombing

By Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) missionary Nancy Collins and her
11-year-old son, Charles, narrowly escaped death in the bombing of the Hilton
Resort Hotel in Taba, Egypt, Oct. 7.

	The Collinses were staying at the hotel on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula
while on a break from Nancy's work with the Coptic Evangelical Organization
for Social Services (CEOSS) in Cairo.

	More than 35 persons, mostly Israeli citizens, were killed in the
series of bombings that devastated the Hilton and two smaller tourist
facilities in the area. A formerly unknown terrorist group has reportedly
claimed responsibility for the attacks.

	"We're shell-shocked but okay," Nancy told the Presbyterian News
Service this morning as she and Charles traveled with a friend from Eilat,
Israel - across the border from Taba - to Jerusalem.

	The Collins will stay in Jerusalem until they can secure
documentation to get back into Egypt. All of their belongings were destroyed
in the blast. Nancy said she still doesn't know the fate of her car, which
was parked in the Hilton parking lot.

	The bomb went off at 9:00 p.m. The Collins had just finished dinner
and Nancy was sitting in a patio area outside the hotel. Charles had gone to
their room on the ninth floor to watch a movie on television, she said.

	"There was a sudden flash of light, then a horrific noise and a cloud
of dust with shards of metal and glass sweeping across the patio," Nancy told
PNS. "I was terrified because Charles was insideB"

	Charles suffered a broken wrist in the blast, but managed to descend
through the rubble and get out of the collapsed building. "He was very scared
but very brave," Nancy said.

	After being treated at a local hospital the Collinses were
transported to Eilat, where emergency shelter was provided at a hotel there.
"Charles came out of the rubble barefoot, but another guest (at the Eilat
hotel) gave him some shoes," Nancy said. "And today we went shopping so we
could get out of our bloodstained clothes.

	"It's a miracle we came out of it with as few scratches as we did."

	The Rev. Victor Makari, area coordinator for the Middle East in the
Worldwide Ministries Division here, said, "We're grateful for the good news
of our friends, but of course quite saddened for the deaths and injuries of
others, and alarmed by what might be the cause of these explosions."

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