At least 35 die in Egyptian blasts

The first and largest of the blasts tore through a hotel on the Israeli-Egyptian border at Taba, killing 29 people and leaving up to 100 more holidaymakers injured.

A suicide car bomber was thought to have been responsible for the huge explosion which caused one side of the hotel to collapse.

Last night the Egyptian authorities had given permission for Israeli emergency services to ferry the dead and injured, who were thought to be mainly Jewish families there on holiday, back across the border.

Israeli TV said seven people were killed in blasts that took place shortly afterwards at two other resorts south-west of Taba, on the Dead Sea coast.

Israeli security officials last night said they were convinced the explosion at the Hilton hotel in Taba, where many Israelis were staying at the close of a Jewish holiday, was caused by a car bomb.

Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon had instructed senior officials to establish contact with Egyptian officials to allow Israeli rescue forces in so that they could treat and transfer the wounded.

Israeli rescue workers who entered Egypt evacuated 39 wounded people from the explosion, five of them in serious condition.

"We know of other people trapped under the ruins of the hotel," said rescue worker spokesman Yerucham Mendola.

The Foreign Office confirmed last night that two Britons were among those injured in the blast although they were not thought to be seriously hurt. Egyptian security officials said there were "a large number of wounded".

Israel sent ambulances and helicopters to evacuate the wounded.

Yigal Vakni told Israel’s Army Radio: "The whole front of the hotel has collapsed. There are dozens of people on the floor, lots of blood, it is very tense.

"I am standing outside of the hotel, the whole thing is burning and they have nothing to put it out with. There is nothing here."

The blast shook the impressive, modern-looking hotel which lies only metres from the Israeli border.

Witnesses said there were people trapped under the ruins of the western side of the building.

Egyptian security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Taba explosion happened among gas tanks in the kitchen of the hotel, which is next to the casino where many tourists were at the time of the blast.

They said they had no initial indications that the blast was due to terrorism.

However, the Haaretz newspaper in Israel said the blast took place in the lobby of the hotel, causing the ceiling to collapse, followed by a fire and the evacuation of guests on upper floors through the emergency exits.

The newspaper quoted Israeli security sources as saying there was a growing conviction that the explosion was caused by a terrorist attack.

A spokesman for Hilton International said: "We are deeply shocked by this serious incident which occurred in the Hilton Taba this evening.

"Our sincere condolences go to the family and friends of those who have been killed and injured as a result.

"Details of the numbers involved are not yet available. At present the Egyptian and Israeli authorities are working together at the scene.

"Taba is an Egyptian-owned hotel managed over the past ten years by Hilton International. The 430-room hotel is regularly used by Israelis and other nationalities. Further information will be issued when available."

Two smaller blasts occurred about two hours later in the area of Ras al Shitan, a camping area near the town of Nuweiba full of Israeli tourists, south of Taba, witnesses said.

A security official in Nuweiba said many people were injured around the scene of the explosion, but he didn’t know of any dead.