Neither Azza Ramzi Muhammad Hassan, the 28-year-old Egyptian flight attendant, nor the Saudi pilot, Hammoud bin Ali Al-Kalthami, expected their professional journey to end amid bloody events at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, where they were united by work in the aviation sector, but the attacks that targeted the airport turned their names into two humanitarian stories that sum up the price that workers in civilian facilities pay during armed conflicts.
Behind the two news stories were two families who lost two people whose work was related to travel and aircraft movement. In Egypt, sadness fell over Azza’s family and the people of her village in Buhaira Governorate, while Saudi Airlines expressed its condolences to Hammoud’s family and colleagues, praising his professional contributions. Thus, the tragedy became bigger than the nationality of the victims or the company they worked for, as it became related to the safety of people who go to work in civilian facilities that are supposed to be far from being targeted.
The deaths of Azza Ramzi and Hamoud Al-Kalthami place the issue of protecting civilians at the forefront of the scene, as airports are not just transportation facilities, but rather points of contact between families, economies, and countries, and any attack on them could cause damage beyond the borders of the targeted site to thousands of travelers, workers, and their families.
Azza, from the Egyptian Beheira Governorate, was working for Flynas, and she died as a result of her injury during the attack that targeted the airport on October 10, and the company mourned her.
As for Captain Hammoud, Saudi Airlines mourned him after he was killed in the October 8 attacks that targeted airport facilities and a company plane that was parked on the ground without passengers. The company did not publish full details about the circumstances of his death.
In a humanitarian gesture that received widespread interaction, Saudi press reports stated that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called the father of the Saudi pilot, Hamoud Al-Kalthami, to offer his condolences and condolences. Reports stated that the Crown Prince expressed his sympathy for the family, as the head of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia, Turki Al-Sheikh, conveyed in a tweet via the
On October 11, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aty mourned the hostess, Azza Ramzi, and the embassy and consulate in Riyadh announced that they would follow up on the procedures for transporting her body to Egypt, in addition to communicating with the injured Egyptians and providing them with the necessary assistance.
Many participants on social media also discussed what happened to Azza and Hammoud, and participant Malik Al-Ruqi posted a picture of Azza on his account, saying: “She is a victim of the Houthis.”
The two incidents come in the context of a dangerous security escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, with accusations being exchanged regarding the attacks and their repercussions on airports and air traffic.
King Khalid International Airport witnessed an attack on Saturday that killed 13 people and injured hundreds.
The next day, Sunday, October 11, the airport was subjected to a new attack, which according to the Saudi authorities resulted in the death of one person and the injury of about 11 others. The attacks led to widespread disruption in air traffic and the cancellation of large numbers of flights.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan announced their condemnation of the attacks, describing them as a dangerous escalation, demanding that they be stopped immediately. On the other hand, press reports stated that the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attacks, amid an exchange of accusations between the parties to the conflict regarding the escalation and mutual strikes.
