Nancy and Charles Collins
(Photo courtesy of Missionconnections)

LOUISVILLE. Presbyterian Church (USA) missionary Nancy Collins and her 11-year-old son, Charles, narrowly escaped death in the bombing of the Hilton Resort Hotel in Taba, Egypt, Oct. 7.

The Collinses were staying at the hotel on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula while on a break from Nancy’s work with the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS) in Cairo.

More than 35 persons, mostly Israeli citizens, were killed in the series of bombings that devastated the Hilton and two smaller tourist facilities in the area. A formerly unknown terrorist group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks.

“We’re shell-shocked but okay,” Nancy told the Presbyterian News Service this morning as she and Charles traveled with a friend from Eilat, Israel — across the border from Taba — to Jerusalem.

The Collins will stay in Jerusalem until they can secure documentation to get back into Egypt. All of their belongings were destroyed in the blast. Nancy said she still doesn’t know the fate of her car, which was parked in the Hilton parking lot.

The bomb went off at 9:00 p.m. The Collins had just finished dinner and Nancy was sitting in a patio area outside the hotel. Charles had gone to their room on the ninth floor to watch a movie on television, she said.

“There was a sudden flash of light, then a horrific noise and a cloud of dust with shards of metal and glass sweeping across the patio,” Nancy told PNS. “I was terrified because Charles was inside...“

Charles suffered a broken wrist in the blast, but managed to descend through the rubble and get out of the collapsed building. “He was very scared but very brave,” Nancy said.

After being treated at a local hospital the Collinses were transported to Eilat, where emergency shelter was provided at a hotel there. “Charles came out of the rubble barefoot, but another guest (at the Eilat hotel) gave him some shoes,” Nancy said. “And today we went shopping so we could get out of our bloodstained clothes.

“It’s a miracle we came out of it with as few scratches as we did.”

The Rev. Victor Makari, area coordinator for the Middle East in the Worldwide Ministries Division here, said, “We’re grateful for the good news of our friends, but of course quite saddened for the deaths and injuries of others, and alarmed by what might be the cause of these explosions.”