Crash, fire in Egypt leaves nine dead and at least 28 injured, including B.C. couple on honeymoon.

Linda Nguyen, Canwest News Service

Jennifer Pannu-Adams and Rick Adams were supposed to return from their honeymoon in Egypt on Friday. Instead, the Surrey, B.C., couple are fighting for their lives after a fiery bus crash in the Sinai peninsula.

Steve Pannu said his daughter and son-in-law were at the end of a month-long trip through Egypt when their tourist bus crashed, killing nine people and injuring at least 28.

In an interview at his Surrey home, Pannu said his son-in-law was able to get Pannu-Adams to jump from the burning bus, which probably saved her life. But they both have severe burns and Adams cannot speak.

As well, Pannu said, his daughter has had an arm amputed and her spleen removed. The 25-year-old accountant also had three broken ribs and underwent more surgery Friday, he said. Adams sustained injuries to his intestines.

"They're a wonderful couple. So full of life," Pannu said. "We just pray they'll be able to survive this. We ask everyone to pray for them."

The couple, who married in September, were among 40 European and Canadian tourists on the tourist bus when it crashed after bursting a tire.

The bus reportedly flipped over up to five times and caught on fire while travelling from the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to Cairo, about 70 kilometres south of Suez.

Pannu said the couple were on their way to the Egyptian capital to board a plane home when the crash occurred.

Instead of picking his daughter up from the Vancouver International Airport on Friday, Pannu was left talking to the media and figuring out how to bring the badly injured couple home.

"It's terrible. It's been a nightmare and we're desperately trying to get them home," Pannu said. To make matters worse, he said, his insurance company has been unable to secure a hospital bed anywhere in the greater Vancouver area.

But Sarah Plank, a spokeswoman for B.C.'s Ministry of Health, said she has no record of an insurance company trying to make contact with B.C. Bedline, the provincial service that helps arrange bed transfers.

She added that although it is impossible to guarantee hospital bed availability in advance, the search will go into effect when the couple's Egyptian doctor says they are stable enough to be airlifted out of the country.

"At this time, there are a number of ICU beds available in the province and we will look at them when she (Pannu-Adams) is ready to be transported," Plank said. "B.C. Bedline will absolutely try to find the bed that is closest to the patient's home and family, but if a patient needs a specialized bed, they might only be available at certain sites (in the province)."

Plank said that, in this case, the woman in particular is still in too unstable a condition to be moved.

"When she is ready then the insurance company will arrange for a bed in B.C. and bring her home," she said.

Among the other tourists injured in the fatal crash were 13 Russians, two Italians, two Egyptians and a Ukrainian. They were taken to three nearby hospitals.

Three of the dead were burned beyond recognition.

The Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa, which declined to confirm the identities of the couple, said Thursday that "the Canadian Embassy in Cairo is providing consular assistance to the individuals involved."

Each year about 6,000 people die and 30,000 are injured in road accidents in Egypt.

In February, 29 people were killed in a pile-up on a road south of Cairo in an accident that was blamed on fog. In March, 23 people were killed when two trucks collided head on.

Traffic regulations are often badly enforced and vehicles poorly maintained.

Many coastal and desert roads allow for high speeds, and accidents caused by reckless overtaking are frequent.