A mum has told how she grabbed her children from their beds and fled down a hotel staircase flooded with water as a fire broke out with allegedly no alarm sounding.
Elle, 39, from Scotland, was on holiday with her sister Sandra, 42, and their combined five children – aged 6, 7, 12, 10, 14 and 17 – when the ordeal unfolded.
The family visited the Gravity Hotel and Aqua Park in the city of Hurgahada, Egypt.
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They were horrified when the power reportedly cut out at their hotel and the sprinklers went off.
“I woke up to what I thought was people fighting outside my door,” Elle told Need To Know.
“I heard water and then the power had went out.
“I opened my door and three guys ran through, shouting ‘Out, out, fire, fire, out’.”
The men turned out to be members of staff that ran past Elle to open the patio doors.
She grabbed her children – two of whom were in just their underwear – and fled down the stairs as water poured down on them in the dark.
She said: “I said to my older daughter [aged 12], just run, just run.
“It’s piling down with water at this point and you can’t see properly.
“My son just slipped and banged his head right off the tiles.
“I just picked him up and dragged him – I don’t even think his feet touched the floor at that point.”
Once outside, Elle couldn’t find her sister – until a phone call revealed her niece, Lily, had been hurt in the chaos
She said: “I just took one look at my niece’s foot and there was a big lump on it.
“People were crying, screaming.
“Kids were crying, people were being sick.
“It wasn’t a nice scene.”
Lily was taken to hospital by ambulance, while Elle stayed behind to look after the rest of the kids.
Around two and a half hours later, guests were told they could return to their rooms claims a then-‘terrified” Elle.
Too frightened to be apart, the whole family ended up sleeping in one room together.
The mum claims the power cut out again overnight which Elle believes was due to an air con unit that “blew up” or a cable fault – with fire engines arriving.
The following day, the group decided to cut their trip short and arranged a flight home for that same night.
They arrived on 11 July and were due to fly home on the 18 July, with the fire itself breaking out during the early hours of the 16 July.
Elle claims staff insisted the police needed to speak to them and that documents and passport photos were required.
She also claims the hotel insisted the family sign a “no fault” form.
Elle said: “I said, no, it’s nobody’s fault, it’s an accident, it’s okay, the hotel’s been fantastic, we’re just going home early because the kids got a fright.
“I was trying to pacify them but I wanted home.
“Everybody wanted home.
“We were scared.
“Staff were not happy we were leaving early.”
Once at the airport, the family were reportedly told Lily needed a ‘fit to fly’ letter from the hospital – but in the end, they thankfully let everyone board.
She added: “Eventually everybody just kind of agreed to let her on the flight.
“The way the hotel staff treated us was absolutely shocking.
“The way the fire procedure was dealt with was absolutely shocking.
“It was just bad.”
Elle later shared the ordeal on TikTok, describing the kids as “traumatised” by the experience.
Jam Press has contacted Gravity Hoel and Aqua Park for comment.
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