One of the tourists attacked by militants at the Red Sea's Bella Vista Hotel told reporters on 9 January about the moment he thought he was going to die. Sammie Olovsson from Sweden was one of three people wounded – the other two were Austrian tourists – when armed assailants attacked the hotel in Hurghada on 8 January.

"Me and my father were having a meal and suddenly a guy come from behind and he put an arm in front of me and tried to stab me and I don't notice it then, but I get one stab here at that time and I think he tried to hit my chest – hit my heart," Olovsson told reporters as he lay in his hospital bed following the attack.

"But I am stronger than him and I push him away. So I stand up and he stabbed me here one time and he said 'Go down' in English and it's with an accent. And then, I don't understand, everything happened so quickly. And I look at them, there are two guys. One of, both of them, have a knife in the right hand and something that looks like a pistol, like a gun, in the left hand. Something black.

"And I am shocked. I don't know what to do. And he sliced me here in the neck and then he shoved his knife here and I go to the ground. And I bleed here. A lot from my neck. I felt I will bleed to death. At that point I'm saying to my father I think I will bleed to death right now."

Security forces shot and killed at least one of the attackers after they stormed the beachside Bella Vista, officials said, though there was no immediate information on the other. Security sources said the attackers had arrived by sea and also carried a gun and a suicide belt. Officials said officers had tightened checks across the area and shut off roads.

"The shot I heard was the shot that killed one of the criminals. So I think it was just crazy guys. It can happen anytime, anywhere. It's just bad coincidence that I was there. And some crazy guys come in and they stab me," said Olovsson.

There was an increased security presence outside the hotel in the days that followed. Armed men stood watch over Western tourists entering and exiting the area, which still bears the blood stains of the attack. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but one witness said he could see a man waving a black flag with white writing during the assault, one that could have been that of Islamic State (Isis).

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