Feature: Brother of killed Egyptian driver seeks equal treatement as Mexican victims

At Giza's poor neighborhood of Boulak el-Dakrour, a gathering of residents was held outside a small home at a narrow street to offer the condolences over the death of Ahmed Owais, a driver working for a tour company, who went to the Western Desert with a group of Mexican tourists but never came back.

The 48-year-old driver, along with three Egyptian fellows and eight Mexican tourists, have been accidentally killed by Egyptian security forces who mistaken them for terrorists with similar 4x4 vehicles near Bahariya Oasis in the desert on Sunday late evening.

"I call on President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to order an exceptional pension for the family of my brother," his brother Aboul-Ela told Xinhua, hoping the Egyptian authorities will treat his deceased brother as the Mexican victims in terms of appreciation and compensation.

"It's a tragedy by all sense of the word, especially that we could not get the complete body of my brother as it was shattered and burnt down," Aboul-Ela continued, expressing hope and confidence in the armed forces to compensate his wife and half a dozen of children for their big loss.

On Wednesday, Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu arrived in Egypt and was offered condolences by the country's head of state and her Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, who promised thorough and transparent probe into the accident.

The 10 injured people, including six Mexicans, have been sent to classy Dar al-Fouad Hospital in Cairo and have been visited Wednesday by Massieu and earlier by the Mexican ambassador to Cairo.

Mohamed Saeed, lawyer of the deceased driver's family, said that the two main demands of the family are a proper compensation and the punishment of those responsible for the fatal mistake.

"The man left behind a wife and six children without a supporter, and there should be equal compensation for all the victims whether they are Mexicans or Egyptians," the lawyer told Xinhua, hoping that Owais will be treated as a martyr and that the Egyptian officials will not care less about the Egyptian victims.

"I believe the Egyptian officials are busier with Mexican victims, but I hope in the end that the victims will be treated equally, especially that Owais' family is really poor," Saeed added.

The lawyer lamented that the driver's family have not been at least offered condolences by Egyptian officials like those offered to the Mexicans. "God created souls as equal!"

At Tabiq al-Diyaba area in the impoverished slum, not too far from Owais' home, Abdullah was feeling grieved over the loss of his best friend Owais while remembering the old days.

"We have been friends since we were seven. He was such a good and kind friend," Abdullah, who works as a barber at his small store, told Xinhua at a nearby coffee shop. "We even named our sons after each other," Abdullah recalled with a sad smile.

Abdullah said that he went with Owais' family to the morgue in Cairo to receive his friend's dead body, noting the deceased was a professional driver who was loved and respected by everyone in the neighborhood.

Being the gateway to lawless Libya, Egypt's Western Desert has been exploited by terrorists since the military removed former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 in response to mass protests. In July 2014, at least 21 Egyptian soldiers were killed and several others injured in a terrorist attack at Western Desert.

As for the recent accident, the Egyptian authorities said the Mexican tourist group was present at "a restricted area" in the desert during the security raid, yet the concerned tour company insisted it had all required official permits for the tourists to be in the place.

"We were furious outside the morgue when we heard some people say the Egyptian victims might have been terrorists," Abdullah said, regretting that some Egyptians would justify the accident or accuse the victims. Endit