CAIRO: Egyptian authorities suspended hot air ballooning over the ancient city of Luxor after two tourists were lightly injured during a ride early on Monday.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, a hot air balloon with 28 tourists drifted off course but eventually landed. The two injured tourists were taken to hospital for treatment, it said.
The statement did not say how the injuries occurred or elaborate on the nationalities of the tourists. It said only that the balloon was at an altitude of 60 meters (197 feet) when it veered off course.
The ministry said ballooning would not resume until an investigation to determine the cause of Monday’s incident is completed.
Hot air ballooning over Luxor, 510 kilometers (320 miles) south of Cairo, is popular as it offers tourists spectacular views of ancient temples.
However, ballooning accidents are not uncommon. A hot air balloon crash near Luxor in 2013 killed 19 tourists, likely the deadliest such accident on record.
In 2009, 16 tourists were injured when their balloon struck a cellphone transmission tower. A year earlier, seven tourists were injured in a similar incident.
Egypt suspends hot air ballooning over Luxor after 2 injured
https://arab.news/zqcq4
Egypt suspends hot air ballooning over Luxor after 2 injured
- The two injured tourists were taken to hospital for treatment
Trump offers to mediate Egypt-Ethiopia dispute on Nile River waters
- Egypt says the dam violates international treaties and could cause both droughts and flooding, a claim Ethiopia rejects
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump offered on Friday to mediate a dispute over Nile River waters between Egypt and Ethiopia. “I am ready to restart US mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia to responsibly resolve the question of ‘The Nile Water Sharing’ once and for all,” he wrote to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in a letter that also was posted on Trump’s Truth Social account.
Addis Ababa’s September 9 inauguration of its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has been a source of anger in Cairo, which is downstream on the Nile.
Ethiopia, the continent’s second-most populous nation with more than 120 million people, sees the $5 billion dam on a tributary of the Nile as central to its economic ambitions.
Egypt says the dam violates international treaties and could cause both droughts and flooding, a claim Ethiopia rejects.
Trump has praised El-Sisi in the past, including during an October trip to Egypt to sign a deal related to the Gaza conflict. In public comments, Trump has echoed Cairo’s concerns about the water issue.
