Many are left devastated after mechanical issues caused a helicopter to plummet in Sinai, Egypt, resulting in the deaths of eight peacekeepers, six American citizens, a French peacekeeper, and a Czech member of the multinational force on November 12, 2020.

The sole survivor from the accident is a ninth peacekeeper on the plane who was rushed to an Israeli hospital near the crash site and left badly injured.

Moments after the tragedy, our US President-elect Joe Biden tweeted his “deep condolences to the loved ones of the peacekeepers, who died on Tiran Island,” in response to this incident.

“I think any loss of life and the fact that it was a mechanical failure is really sad,” said Nader Boulos, who was born and has family in Egypt. “I believe it’s devastating to the families and the victims because sudden death like this means you never see it coming and you never get to say your final ‘goodbye’. I also think it’s great that Joe Biden responded with affection and with sincere condolence because you realize even if some of them weren’t American citizens, the loss of life is a shame and we should be affected by it.”

“My reaction is that this is a shame and a terrible loss,” said Christopher Van Ness, a Wayne Hills history teacher. “However, after reading through reports, my initial reaction was to question whether this was an accident or not. [Though,] I believe that the MFO has no reason to lie about what happened in this event.”

Van Ness further cautioned that there is no conspiracy regarding this incident.

¨I am not sure if this information needs to be more widespread,” Van Ness explains. “It is important that we got the news story and information about it, but accidents do occur, and creating conspiracy theories or alternate possibilities does not seem to serve the public interest or the interests of the families of those who died.¨

Although the incident has been deemed an accident, when the MFO and South Sinai Governor´s Office were questioned, they refused to answer any more questions about it. They also denied the location of the site.