Express & Star

Terror in Tunisia: Terrible silence on beach of death

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Fermé. The sign on the door to the Imperial Marhaba Hotel says it all.

This week the beaches on the Sousse coastline in Tunisia should have been packed with British tourists.

But instead, the waves lap onto a desolate wilderness with not a soul to be seen.

"We have 800 customers a week and now we have zero," says hotel manager Mehrez Saadi.

"It is a big problem. It is heart-breaking.

"It is very strange for me. I have lots and lots of guests and then one day I find myself on my own. I do not know what I will do."

It was at this hotel where ISIS terrorist Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire on Western guests, killing 38 in total, including 30 Brits.

Among the dead were three generations of the same Black Country family and a Staffordshire woman. It was the bloodiest attack on British nationals in years.

A shop now closed on the street where police shot the gunman Seifeddine Rezgui

Four months on all but four of the 120 hotels in the resorts of Sousse and Port El Kantaoui are closed. The Imperial Marhaba Hotel is now a lonely place.

Empty chairs are sat at empty tables.

A piano silenced by a skin of cellophane.

These lobby chairs would normally be full with guests

Sun loungers are piled up in a now redundant service yard. The swimming pool drained not only of water but of life.

Mr Saadi has run the hotel for the past three years. He cannot believe his eyes. He is a broken man who struggles to hold back the tears as he speaks in his first interview with British press.

He has had to let go of 200 staff members – as has virtually every hotel here. In total, he estimates that 40,000 Tunisians have lost their jobs from cleaners to beach sellers.

"The impact is massive," the 37 year-old says.

"It is a big tragedy. Imagine all your life is spent with European customers, 80 per cent of my life was spent with them. I am always speaking to customers and then one day not any more. Imagine what we have to do now. It is our life. It is not just about the economy or money, it is our life. There is now something missing.

A lone beach seller optimistically looks for customers

"We really need our customers and they really want to be back. This country is for them."

In the wake of the attacks The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has warned British nationals not to travel to Tunisia except for essential travel.

For this reason, travel agents have cancelled lucrative package holidays to the country.

It has devastated the Sousse region.

Mr Saadi says such an approach has played into the hands of the so-called Islamic State.

The Imperial Marhaba Hotel manager, Mehrez Saadi, says he doesn't know if the resort will recover

He said: "Honestly, I cannot say if it is safe or not for British customers but I think the British government has to find a solution with the Tunisian government – but not to choose the easy way and just say 'do not go to Tunisia'. I think we have to find another solution and to protect British tourists to protect Tunisian employees.

"If Britain and other European countries stop tourists from coming and say it is dangerous definitively because of the risk, then it is like a win for the terrorists. They have won and Tunisia is the victim. I am hopeful the British will change their mind.

"It is like a game for the terrorists.

Tunisian hotel gunman Seifeddine Rezgui was also known by his jihadi pseudonym of Abu Yahya al-Qayrawani

"I hope the British government will help the Tunisian government to cleanse this country of any threat. Terrorism can happen anywhere," Mr Saadi added.

On the beach, parasols are still fixed in the sand as a tragic reminder of the fun times once enjoyed here. Barbed wire runs along the hotel's perimeter wall and the back gate is locked and manned by a security guard round the clock.

The luxury resort now resembles a modern day Famagusta. Mr Saadi was in the hotel reception on June 26 speaking with colleagues when the gunman attacked.

"I heard shooting and screaming," he said.

"I heard only such things on TV or films and thought it was some sort of entertainment.

"After a few minutes it was very, very crowded as all people ran into the hotel at the same moment. Then I am running as quick as I can to the beach. People are shouting 'help us' and I take them downstairs and others through the back of the hotel where normally nobody goes."

He hid people in the hotel's laundry room for safety.

Others he directed through the front entrance of the hotel into the car park and a side street that leads to the main road in the town.

The gunman fired a Kalashnikov and threw hand-made grenades. "He threw one outside the hotel, one inside and one in the car park a few metres from me," said Mr Saadi.

"I threw rocks and stones at him.

"Our maintenance chief was upstairs and threw a chair out of the window at him."

A Tunisian shop owner tells his story to Express & Star reporter Rob Golledge

Rezgui walked through the hotel and out into the car park. He is later captured on camera leaving the hotel and walking down the beach.

Tucked next to the neighbouring hotel there is a row of shops where he exchanged fire with armed police. It is here his killing spree came to an end. He was shot dead by police – a whole 33 minutes after he launched his attack.

"It was disgusting," said Mr Saadi.

"It was a big, big tragedy. We are heartbroken for our guests and their relatives.

"There was blood all over the sand and towels. Everything we threw out. Inside there was damage from shots and grenades. The glass doors and windows were shattered and the marble damaged. We replaced it all.

"To many here it's crushing. The last three years we have been the busiest hotel in Port El Kantaoui and all the Sousse region."

A bullet hole still left in a hotel pillar made by the gunman's fire

Just one bullet hole remains in the hotel – the entry point in a marble pillar a ghastly relic from Tunisia's darkest day.

A memorial sign placed on the beach in the aftermath of the attack is now tucked away in a side room. While ones etched in stone are placed around the hotel grounds.

Mr Saadi said: "For us it is a big tragedy. We now find ourselves with no customers, there are empty chairs, no employees. Until now I cannot believe that this would be possible. There are no more tourists in the region, it is so difficult to think about.

"Before the terror attack I have 220 employees here, now I only have 22. Imagine in every hotel it is closed and it is the same. From 90 per cent full to empty. There have been a handful of people who say 'psssh' and still come to Tunisia, but they tend to be Germans."

The Imperial had a contract with Thomson, providing package holidays. The hotel has been closed fully since October 2. Bosses are trying to remain optimistic and hope they can re-open in March.

Wreaths are lain at the scene of the massacre in Sousse, Tunisia, two days after the attack

Habib Mathouthi, aged 55, has worked at the hotel for 22 years as a porter. Since the closure he has been acting as a security guard at the front gate to the hotel. This week he leaves the job he loves because the hotel is closed and there are no visitors.

He said four hotels had closed down completely. "Normally it is busy this time of year," he said. "Many are closed for now but four have closed down completely. It is very sad for me. There is no work. I don't know what I will do."

The 30 British victims included three Walsall FC fans from the same family: Joel Richards, aged 19, from Wednesbury, who was the youngest to be killed. He died alongside his uncle Adrian Evans, 49, who worked at Sandwell Council, from Bilston, and his 78-year-old father Pat Evans. Joel's younger brother Owen, 16, survived. Also among the dead was Sue Davey, 44, who is originally from West Bromwich.

"The terrorists realise the country is on the beginning to the right way and they do not like it," said Mr Saadi, referring to the democratisation of the Arab country after the Jasmine Revolution in 2011.

"It has never happened here before this year.

"They want to stop democracy, stop the relationship between Tunisia and the European continent. I hope and wish the British government chooses the right way. A lot of people like it here. It is just two hours away and not the distance of Mexico. There is good weather and even though it is an Arabic country it is not like the Middle East."

Rows of empty shops line the resort.

Grundi Shops, which sells t-shirts, straw hats, and souvenirs, is the only one open.

Owner Khemaies Jerbi is fast asleep on a bench behind the counter.

See your Weekend Express & Star for more from Rob Golledge's report

Because he now has no customers, he spends most of his days asleep. "It is a big problem there are no tourists," he says in French. "It is a big problem for every shop and all of Tunisia."

He has run the shop for 10 years.

He is 52 years old with four children at university, secondary school and primary school. He does not know how he will make a living.

"That is the greatest problem," he says.

He points to bullet holes in the canopy outside his shop. There are three more holes in the walls.

He said: "I heard the shooting. Four or five minutes later a lot of people were running past and I saw him. Shorts, no shoes, long hair and a Kalashnikov.

"The police were at the other end of the street and there was shooting. It hit my shop."

He is not optimistic about the future. "I hope David Cameron can help with a big idea.

"I don't think things will get better. Tourists have all gone and I cannot see them coming back after what happened."

On the beach outside the hotel, a Tunisian flag waves in the wind in tatters looking out to sea. It is symbolic of the forsaken state this fledgling democracy, which just months ago boasted a burgeoning tourism sector, now finds itself in.

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