Mexico’s foreign minister has arrived in Cairo after Egyptian security forces mistakenly killed at least eight Mexican tourists on a desert safari.
Secretary of Foreign Affairs Claudia Ruiz Massieu touched down in Cairo early Wednesday morning, accompanied by several family members of the victims, according to a statement from the Mexican Foreign Ministry, AP reported.
Massieu will visit survivors of the incident and also meet with Egyptian officials, “to obtain firsthand information that would clarify the circumstances of this deplorable event,” the statement said
Egyptian officials initially claimed the convoy of SUVs had wandered into an off-limits area of Egypt’s western desert. But in an open letter to the Mexican people, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said the facts of the case remain “confusing” and promised a thorough and impartial investigation.
“We still do not know if the convoy was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, or if some error was involved,” Shoukry wrote in a letter scheduled to be published in Mexican newspapers Wednesday, according to the Embassy of Egypt in Washington.
“I assure the Mexican people that an impartial inquiry is being held, under the leadership of Egypt’s prime minister himself, and that Egypt is prepared to do its utmost to help in any way it can.”
Egyptian forces hunting militants in the country’s western desert mistakenly opened fire on several vehicles used by Mexican tourists, killing 12 people on Sunday. The other dead are believed to be Egyptians.
