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Brief technical delay in schedule saves Jordan tourists' lives
[Jordan Times] AMMAN -- The bus driver was supposed to show up at 7:30am on Sunday to pick up a group of tourists from Amman to Karak. He was late because of a technical problem, which made the tourists a little upset. In the afternoon, they rejoiced at the very thing that annoyed them in the morning, because it saved their lives, or at least spared them the horror other visitors of the old Crusader castle had to experience. "Thank God he was late. We feel very lucky today that he was late. We are now safe," Liam Jouannon, an 18-year-old tourist from Australia, a member of the group, told the Jordan Times Sunday. The driver was supposed to take the group of 13 tourists, coming from Australia, Canada, the UK, the US and New Zealand, to the Dead Sea then to Karak Castle, which in the afternoon was the scene of a shootout between security forces and terrorists. The terrorist attack in the southern town, 150km from Amman, led to the death of at least four policemen, three gendarmerie members, two citizens and a Canadian citizen. "When the driver was late, we started to crack jokes about lack of punctuality... Then we moved on with our journey," their tour operator, who preferred not to be named, told The Jordan Times. Around 2:00pm, the bus was two minutes away from the castle that was built in the 1140s. Then, traffic came to a complete standstill, and a few minutes afterwards, the bus driver was supposed to take a right turn that leads to the castle. "At the turn, a man waved for us not to enter and asked us to drive straight... I realised there was something wrong and the tourists were upset that they miss visiting the castle despite being very close to it following a long journey," the guide said. A few minutes later, the passengers could hear an exchange of fire, said the guide. Posted by: Besoeker 2016-12-20 |
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