Mexico ‘dissatisfied, surprised’ with Egypt’s response to Mexican nationals killed in military airstrike

Mexico’s foreign affairs ministry has announced that it is dissatisfied and surprised by the Egyptian government’s reaction to a military airstrike that killed eight Mexican tourists in the Western Desert last year.

In an official statement posted on its website on Thursday, the ministry reiterated its call for victims' families to receive full financial compensation and for those responsible for the incident to be held accountable. Negotiations with the families of those affected, which have been reported by Egyptian media, have been conducted without the knowledge of the Mexican Embassy in Cairo, according to the statement.  

In September 2015, Egypt’s military conducted an aerial strike on a tourist convoy camping in the Western Desert. Twelve people were killed in the attack, including eight Mexican nationals and four Egyptians, while six other Mexican tourists were injured.

Following the attack, Egyptian authorities stated that the military had mistakenly identified the tourist convey as a militant group. An official investigation conducted by Egyptian investigators determined that the tourism company that had organized the convoy was financially liable, as it had taken the tourists into a restricted military zone without security permission.

In September 2015, Mexico’s foreign affairs ministry demanded that Egypt pay compensation for the deaths and injuries inflicted upon its nationals.

The privately owned Egyptian Tourism Federation announced on Monday that it had begun dispersing compensatory payments to the victims' families in the absence of state-issued compensation. So far, three Mexican families have been paid US$140,000 each in compensation over the accidental deaths of their relatives.

In a statement published on Tuesday, the Egyptian Tourism Federation disclosed that, “Compensations provided to the families of the three victims have reached US$420,000, with US$140,000 being paid to each of the three victims’ families. There are ongoing negotiations with the remaining five families in order to finally close this case.”

A report published by French news agency Agence France-Presse on Tuesday indicated that the tourism federation was making compensatory payments on the condition that the families refrain from pursuing further legal action.