CAIRO - The tragic church attack in Alexandria overshadowed a heroic deed by an ambulance driver who saved the lives of dozens of schoolgirls. Their school bus turned over when it was hit by heavy downpours in the Upper Egyptian town of Malawi. Mohamed Khedr Mohammed, 27, collapsed and died, after he managed to carry more than 35 schoolgirls to a safe place when they struggled weakly in the rising waters. His body was discovered eight kilometres from the scene of the accident. Although about 15 girls and teachers were killed, the brutality of the church attack in Alexandria during the New Year's Eve service made the local media forget Mohamed and his ultimate sacrifice. During his funeral, his widow and grieving family members were accompanied by hundreds of neighbours. Choking with tears, Mohamed's wife said that he was offered the job as an ambulance driver only a year ago. She remembered him as a kind husband and a loving father of two children, a boy and a girl. His friends and other mourners also praised the brave ambulance driver. The grief-stricken stopped wailing temporarily to remember that although he was a driver, he helped the paramedics carry the injured to the ambulance. “He always told me that he jumped out of the driver's seat to help,” the widow continued. He also used to tell his wife about his daily activities when he returned home in the evening. Now it was he who became a story told by others. His mother told Al-Messa evening newspaper that her late son felt he would die as a martyr: “He called me a martyr's mother, which made me very sad, and I begged him not to repeat this.” After a minute of silence, the mother continued: “I had no idea that he was telling the truth about his impending death.” Both widow and mother said that Mohammed's death hurt the family also economically. “We lost a kind son, husband and father, the bread-winner of his family,” they said. His father appealed to the Government for financial help and a decent pension. The school's principal and her assistants were detained for ignoring weather warnings, as bad weather hit Menia and Assiut two days before the accident.
