Senior Jalisco government officials were on hand at the Guadalajara International Airport Monday to greet and comfort two survivors of the Egyptian armed forces air strike that killed eight Mexican tourists last week.
Six residents of this state were among the victims.
Elizabeth Velarde Calderon and Carmen Susana Calderon Gallegos did not speak to the media as they were wheeled through the airport concourse on their way to vehicles waiting to take them home.
Both sustained injuries in the attack that took place in a section of desert that Egyptian authorities say was off-limits to tourists. The Mexican tourists were mistaken for Islamic terrorists being hunted by Egypt’s armed forces.
Four others injured in the attack remain hospitalized in the Instituto Nacional de Rehabilitacion in Mexico City. The injured survivors returned from Cairo aboard the presidential plane accompanied by Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu.
The bodies of the six Jalisco citizens who died in the attack are expected to be repatriated either on Friday or at the weekend, according to Mexico’s Foreign Ministry. The bodies arrived in Mexico City on a commercial flight Tuesday and were immediately transported to a morgue. By law, the bodies must undergo a forensic examination before they can be delivered to their families.
Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval last week suggested that Mexico should sever diplomatic ties with Egypt if a clear explanation for the attack is not forthcoming.
Although Egypt’s president has promised a transparent investigation into the attack, the country’s media has been prohibited from publishing any information about the incident.