>>> back now at 8:
11 with a tragic didn't in
egypt
. eight americans were killed when a
tour bus
collided with a truck in southern
egypt
. nbc's
martin fletcher
has the latest. martin, good morning.
>> reporter:
lester, good morning. while driving in the dark in
egypt
is always a
risky business
, fast drivers, poor roads, almost no
traffic police
and most of the
heavy traffic
is in areas used by tourists. all that's left of a crushed bus, the whole right-hand side torn away. this is where the eight dead americans and most of the 21 injured were sitting. barbara from detroit, michigan got off lightly and so did her husband bob, their first meeting since the crash. sharing news of their friends.
>>
we're blessed to be alive. it happened so quickly, we were just laying there and all of a sudden there was this tremendous, tremendous crash and just trauma, just noise and screaming. it was horrible. it was really horrible.
>> reporter:
it was dark
before dawn
sunday. 116 american tourists set off in three busses. many were lying back trying to sleep. on a narrow road through the sand, the first bus sideswiped a truck parked halfway on to the road. egyptian
truck drivers
often sleep in their trucks. they had been traveling between two world renowned tourism sights.
>>
they are connected by a road which is like many roads in
egypt
,
somewhere between
barely tolerable and in an appalling state.
>>
it's the third tourist crash in
egypt
in three months. in total 22 foreign tourists killed.
>> reporter:
families in america were informed sunday, but the names of their hometowns has not yet been released.
>>
in one second, their loved ones were ripped away so it's very hard.
>> reporter:
many of the tourists will continue their vacation. the next stop on the nile has been called the greatest
open air museum
in the world, but the trip of a lifetime has become a nightmare too.
>>
martin fletcher
in london for us. bob gelster survived the crash. bob, we're glad you're safe, i know you and your wife were separated. she was injured and taken to cairo. you're there now, have you seen her and how is she?
>>
she's fine. i saw her this morning. the doctor has released her, the one that did the c.a.t. scan on her and now she's waiting to here from the doctor on the injuries to her legs.
>>
and you guys were on the bus how long when this happened?
>>
we got on at
5:00 a.m
. and we stopped at the
police station
to pick up a police escort and we were probably 15 miles out into the sahara, it was probably about 6:00 when the accident happened.
>>
and what do you remember about the accident?
>>
i was trying to sleep at the time and i could remember hearing just the noise of the tires on the road. and then just like the
big bang
and getting showered with glass and then the bus spinning around and so i took my -- i had eye shades on and i could see the side of the bus was gone and i felt to see if i was bleeding and i had some blood coming from my mouth and my chin and i asked my wife if she was okay and she said she was, but i could see she had some facial cuts. there was a lot of crying and stuff like that.
>>
but you were obviously able to move as were a couple of others and you, i understand, administered aid and tried to free some of those people who were trapped?
>>
yeah, a couple of us weren't really injured and we were able to get out. most of the people were trapped like accordion and trapped with other people.
>>
was this the same bus you had been traveling throughout
egypt
with prior to this?
>>
yes. it was the same group. we had done a pretrip with them also for a week in israel. so all the people that had done the trip to israel were on the same bus. so we had gotten to know the people over the two weeks, some of them pretty good.
>>
were you able to call home rather quickly to alert them to what had happened?
>>
yes. there was a fellow right at the site who had a cell phone that worked so i was able to call my son and let him know and he called my sister and let my mom know and barbara's brothers.
>>
and as soon as your wife is able, do you plan to continue the trip? or is the plan now to go home to detroit?
>>
as soon as she's released, we'll try to get a flight out as soon as possible.
>>
we're glad you're both okay and thank you for sharing the story with us, we do appreciate it.
>>
okay, thank you.
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