But with Britons apparently paying the heaviest price in Friday's atrocity, Home Secretary Theresa May has been visiting the country today.
She joined others to pay
her respect to the victims on the beach in Sousse, and will also discuss the
terror threat with Tunisian government officials.
As Britain mourns those
confirmed to have died in the Tunisia terror attack, tales of survival are
emerging.
Mathew James, 30, who used
his own body as a shield to protect his fiance Saera Wilson from the gunman,
has been pictured giving the thumbs-up from his hospital bed in Wales.
Mr James, a gas engineer
from Pontypridd, South Wales, was shot in the shoulder, chest and hip and was
taken to hospital after suffering a heart attack and shattered pelvis - but his
beloved partner was left unscathed.
Miss Wilson, 26, said after
the attack: "He took a bullet for me. I owe him my life because he threw
himself in front of me when the shooting started.
"He was covered in
blood from the shots but he just told me to run away. He told me: 'I love you
babe. But just go - tell our children that their daddy loves them'."
Christine
Callaghan, from Norfolk, was injured in the attack but her sunglasses case was
believed to have taken the impact of one bullet shot in her direction,
according to her husband Tony.
Cardiff civil
servant Ben Milton, 24, proposed to girlfriend Shelley Hay on the night of the
shooting, saying he wanted to show his love and "didn't want the
terrorists to win.
He added:
"I thought: 'Screw them - they are not going to stop us.' It was an act of
defiance against what happened."
Ross Thomson
barricaded himself in his hotel room and Rebecca Smith, locked herself in the
staff toilets and "hoped for the best", while Leiha Shaw and her
mother Amanda Roberts ignored the hot ground burning their bare feet as they
fled for their lives.
There were
also accounts of the bravery shown by Tunisians who tried to protect the
tourists as Seifeddine Rezgui continued prowling the beach for more victims.
Mark Barlow,
24, and Becky Catterick, 19, from Scunthorpe, said they were protected by local
shopkeepers and another British tourist, named Len, from Norfolk, told the
Guardian that hotel staff had run towards to beach while everyone else ran
away.
Locals were
reported to have created a protective ring around a group of tourists at the
beach, telling the gunman he would have to kill them first and 18-year-old
Ibrahim el Ghoul, who hires out jetskis on the beach, told The Daily Telegraph
how he tried to help a family escape before throwing stones at the gunman.
He denied he
was a hero, saying: "This is what I had to do - I love my country so
much".
Meanwhile, the
Prime Minister says an RAF plane is being sent to evacuate casualties from
Tunisia, as Home Secretary Theresa May arrived in the country to see the
aftermath of the "absolutely horrific attack".
David Cameron
has promised a "full spectrum" response to the attack that is
expected to have left as many as 30 Britons dead.
Telegraph
Sky News
Dis religious hatred has to stop, the innocent people were killed for nothing. Msy their soul rest in peace.
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