Tourists stabbed in attack at Egypt hotel

Three foreign tourists stabbed in a militant attack in Egypt are now in a stable condition, hospitals officials said.

The victims - identified as Austrians Renata and Wilhelm Weisslein, both 72, and Swede Sammie Olovsson, 27 - escaped with minor injuries in Friday's attack.

This was despite Mr Olovsson being stabbed in the neck four times.

The attack happened in the Red Sea resort city of Hurghada, Egypt when two armed assailants stormed a restaurant outside the four-star Bella Vista Hotel.

Security forces shot both attackers, killing one and injuring the other before arresting him

Footage from the scene shows people gathered outside the hotel following the assault.

According to reports, the two attackers arrived by sea in the outdoor restaurant at the front of the Bella Vista Resort.

Unconfirmed reports suggest at least one of the men was wearing a suicide belt, but did not detonate it.

Jan-Eric Olovsson, father of the Swedish victim, told the Swedish Expressen newspaper they were having dinner in the restaurant when the attackers stormed in.

He said: "Everything went really fast. I thought they came from outside. I myself had the gun pointed at me three times, and Sammie was stabbed with the knife."

He said his son was stabbed four times in the neck but "did well" because of his physical strength.

"I told him to lie still," he said, recalling how his son lay in a pool of blood. "I got up a few times and when I saw it was clear, I ran out on the street and tried to get hold of an ambulance."

The attack came just hours after an Islamic State-affiliated group claimed responsibility for an attack at a Cairo hotel, near the Giza Pyramids, in which nobody was injured.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not changed its travel advice for the Red Sea region, which includes Hurghada, from its 'green' status.

But it advised all British nationals to stay in a safe location and follow the advice of local authorities.

Egyptian forces have been battling an insurgency by Islamist militants which claim allegiance to the so-called IS, mainly focused in the northern Sinai region but which occasionally spills over to the mainland.

Hurghada, Egypt Credit: Google Maps