A British tourist has raised nearly £9,000 for staff at the Tunisian hotel hit by last Friday’s gun attack.
Nathan Priestley set up an online fundraising page for the Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba workers after 90% of guests left after the massacre while he decided to stay for the rest of his holiday, Travel Weekly UK reports.
The fundraising effort was launched on Tuesday to help staff at the Riu Imperial Marhaba and the neighboring Hotel Riu Bellevue Park.
“They were incredibly heroic,” said the 21-year-old gym instructor from Norwich, who fears the worker’s jobs are under threat.
The 30 British victims out of the 38 killed have now been identified and were all customers of Thomson and First Choice.
Priestley was on a day trip at the time of the beachfront assault by gunman Seifeddine Rezgui.
He said the scene when he returned was “absolute carnage”.
“Walking back into the hotel, I still have images of the blood and body bags ... and where they were taking them out to hospital,” he told the BBC.
“One had to run and cover up dead bodies so the fleeing children wouldn’t see them on their return to the hotel.
“Our head waiter was absolutely distraught; he was hugging everyone and crying and saying he was so sorry.”
Priestley, who was flying home last night after his seven-day stay, initially wanted to raise £1,000 to give to the workers.
He said: “Many of them have been told not to come into work because there are barely any guests left.
“The staff are overwhelmed from the support and cannot thank us enough.”
The fundraising page can be found at www.gofundme.com/StaffofTunisia.
