week, has defended the condition of the tour bus, BosNewsLife monitored Tuesday, November 2. However days after Thursday’s deadly crash near the ancient Christian city of Petra, motoring experts have reacted sceptically to his suggestion that the desert heat may have caused the tyre to blow out with tragic consequences.
Kamal Shaaban, Managing Director of the Labeduina travel company, Bedouin Travel, told the Yorkshire Post Today newspaper that the coach was in "excellent" condition and the tyres were "brand new".
Asked how one could have burst, he reportedly replied: "It could have been the heat or anything. But the Michelin company said in a statement tyres were designed to operate in hot countries and they did not "just go pop like balloons", the newspaper reported.
NEW CONCERN
While Jordanians have been relieved the accident was not related to terrorism, there is concern it could overshadow government attempts to encourage Christian tourism toward the region. The Britons were members of an 18-strong party on an eight-day spiritual tour of Jordan arranged by Deal-based Christian holiday company Pilgrim Tours.
Their trip was part of an eight-day spiritual tour of Jordan arranged by Christian holiday company Pilgrim Tours based in Deal in Kent. The coach was carrying the holidaymakers back from a visit to the ancient city of Petra when the accident happened. Speaking from hospital, survivor Roger Brown, from Dunnington, York, reportedly said a wheel had to be changed on the bus earlier in the day.
INJURED BRITONS
Brown is one of nine injured Britons being cared for at the King Hussein Medical Centre in the Jordanian capital of Amman. They have been visited by Jordan’s King Abdullah and Prince Charles, who was on an official tour of the Middle East kingdom.
The daughters of a couple killed in the crash, Richard and Angela Fothergill from Gosforth in Newcastle, have been speaking of their loss. Their three daughters, Alison Atkinson, Celia Kellett and Rosie Hetherington described their shock in a statement issued by police.
"Our parents have been a source of constant love, support and encouragement throughout our lives and at the moment it is too difficult to imagine a future without them." Their parents had been married more than 40 years, news reports said.
NAMES RELEASED
The others identified as killed were Nancy Ansbro, 67, and Hazel Clement, 62, both of Louth, Lincolnshire; Hilda Brisby, 80, and Margaret Haslam, 70, both from York; Owen Dale, 66, and his wife Jean, 63, also from York; Frederick Tant, 69, of Uxbridge, west London.
Rev Stephen Burgess, chairman of their home church York and Hull District Methodists said he was "deeply saddened at the deaths." However he told media that he knew that "Methodists and others locally are remembering those involved in their prayers, and will be offering prayers and support to families and friends at this terrible time."
