The fiery crash of a sightseeing balloon that killed 19 tourists has cast a further pall over this city of ancient temples and tombs, already perhaps the hardest hit by Egypt’s two-year drop in tourism, which has left hotels here empty and residents desperate for income.

Some connected to the tourist trade in Luxor, a city utterly dependent on foreign visitors to survive, were seething with anger Wednesday at the country’s Islamist president for his silence over the crash.

Mohammed Morsi has yet to publicly speak about the balloon crash in which 19 tourists were killed. Some here took that not just as insensitivity to the victims’ families but as indifference to the vital tourism trade. Article

Cartoon courtesy Doaa Eladl