Ontario tour escapes injury in hotel blast

‘ We hit the floor and then we ran’ Pastor gives prayer of thanks, solace

Before they left on a Christian pilgrimage to the Middle East, Matt Whittaker’s parents told him what to do if they were in a plane crash.

Matt. 21, told them he was more worried about suicide bombings.

Matt’s worry turned to prophecy Wednesday night, when a suicide attacker blew himself up at the hotel his parents were staying at in Amman, Jordan.

Grant and Janice Whittaker, of Fergus, Ont., were uninjured in the blast at the Radisson SAS hotel, one of three that shattered the usually calm Jordanian capital. The suicide bomb attacks claimed 56 victims, including 33 Jordanians, and wounded at least 115. No Canadians were among the casualties.

“ It’s really surreal,” Grant said after the emotionally drained group flew into Pearson International Airport yesterday, relieved to be home. “ I don’t think it’s hit us yet. It will later on.” The Whittakers and 36 others, many from the Orangeville area, left 11 days ago to tour Biblical sites in Israel and Jordan.

While some in the group returned to their rooms after dinner, others stayed in the hotel lounge for tea. Just before 9 p. m., a wedding procession for two Palestinians, Askraf Mohamed al- Akhras and Nadia alAlami, was heading into the adjacent banquet hall. As the guests watched the entourage, there was a blinding flash and a loud explosion. The stained- glass roof collapsed and a glass partition shattered in their direction. Dust filled the room.

“ We hit the floor,” said Don Fitchett, former pastor of Orangeville Baptist Church. “ And then we ran.”

People screamed and scrambled outdoors, passing sprawled bodies on the way.

“ We didn’t know if there would be another one,” said Fitchett’s wife, Carol. Outside, they heard another blast, this time from the nearby Grand Hyatt. A third blast hit the Days Inn. When they finally returned to the Radisson, they heard that the respective fathers of the bride and groom had been killed, as had 11 other relatives. The newly married couple escaped serious injury.

“ I am rejoicing that we were spared,” Don Fitchett said. “ As a pastor, I say the hand of God was over us. But I hate to say it, because so many others were killed.”

Later, the group met to “ pray for our deliverance and for those who didn’t make it,” the pastor said. Bob Burnside, an Orangeville consulting engineer, said he still couldn’t believe what happened.

“ But we’re concerned with the insanity of this,” he said.

“ It’s just so evil what’s happening.”