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Rabu, 03 Oktober 2007

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Air Ambulance takes Sultan Park explosion victims back home

| DATE: 2007-10-03 |HNS
A Swiss Air Ambulance arrived in Male’ yesterday to airlift the British honeymoon couple who were most seriously injured in Saturday’s bomb attack at the Sultan Park back to their home.

Minister of Tourism Dr. Mahmoud Shaugee said yesterday that the Ambulance had been chartered with the assistance from the Government, some concerned parties from the tourism industry, Maldives Association for Tourism Industry (MATI), and the couple’s families. The Minister however declined to comment on how much it had cost to procure the services of the ambulance.

“The two tourists were severely burned in the attack,” Shaugee said. “They have to be transported in a very sterile and safe environment. That’s why we had to get the special ambulance.”

The British couple Christian and Jennifer Donelan, who works for a Qatar company that organizes sports events in the Gulf region, were severely burned in the explosion. Jennifer has first and second degree burns covering up to 40 percent of her body, including her face, hands and legs. Christian, 32, has 27 percent burns.

The couple requires urgent plastic surgery and skin grafts which the privately owned ADK Hospital, where they were admitted following the explosion, is not equipped to handle.

The couple was among 12 tourists hurt in the home-bomb explosion which had contained nails as shrapnel. The device detonated outside the Sultan Park in Male as the couple along with several other tourists were visiting on a day trip. The couple were flown out of Maldives early this morning.

Police have said that so far they have arrested 11 people in connection with the explosion; two foreigners and nine locals.