title: Mass casualty incident after the Taba terrorist attack: an organisational and medical challenge.
abstract: Two suicide bombings in and around Taba, Egypt, on 7 October 2004 created a complex medical and organisational situation. Since most victims were Israeli tourists, the National Emergency and Disaster Management Division handled their evacuation and treatment. This paper describes the event chronologically, as well as the organisational and management challenges confronted and applied solutions. Forty-nine emergency personnel and physicians were flown early to the disaster area to reinforce scarce local medical resources. Two hundred casualties were recorded: 32 dead and 168 injured. Eilat hospital was transformed into a triage facility. Thirty-two seriously injured patients were flown to two remote trauma centres in central Israel. Management of mass casualty incidents is difficult when local resources are inadequate. An effective response should include: rapid transportation of experienced trauma teams to the disaster zone; conversion of local medical amenities into a triage centre; and rapid evacuation of the seriously injured to higher level medical facilities.
authors: Soroka University Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors: Erez
authors: E
authors: Karp
authors: Gilbert
authors: G
authors: Sebbag
authors: Jochanan
authors: J
authors: Peiser
authors: Oleg
authors: O
authors: Dukhno
authors: Amnon
authors: A
authors: Ovnat
authors: Isaac
authors: I
authors: Levy
authors: Eytan
authors: E
authors: Hyam
authors: Amir
authors: A
authors: Blumenfeld
authors: Yoram
authors: Y
authors: Kluger
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Simon
authors: Gad
authors: G
authors: Shaked
mesh_terms: D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D023481:Terrorism; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*