Three generations wiped out in Egyptian massacre

Tourists of all nationalities flew home from Egypt yesterday after Monday's massacre which left 58 holidaymakers dead. Six Britons died when gunmen opened fire. Esther Leach reports that one family was all but wiped out.

The grief was raw in the Yorkshire village of Ripponden. The sole surviving member of the Turner family, Deborah Turner, 30, left their home under the protection of a friend and a police officer soon after she was told the news.

"I am absolutely distraught at losing all my family," she said. "I'm all alone now."

Her air-hostess sister, Karina, Karina's five-year-old daughter, Shaunnah, and her mother, Joan, were all shot dead .

Deborah, a mature student at Salford University, Greater Manchester, where she is studying to become a social worker, said: "I've lost my mother and my sister and my beautiful niece.

"I'm absolutely distraught; I've lost everything." They had lived together in the village. The holiday had been arranged through Karina's firm.

John Wilson, whose daughter attended the same school as Shaunnah, said he did not know how Deborah would cope with the loss of her family. "Shaunnah was a bright, beautiful little girl who went to the same school as my daughter," he said.

Shaunnah was at St Mary's Church of England junior and infants school, near by at Mill Bank. It was the task of Danny Mollan, head teacher of the school, to tell his 87 pupils the news at the end of the day.

Children left the hillside school hand-in-hand with parents, some wiping away tears, trying to understand what had happened.

Then Mr Mollan made his own statement to the press. He said: "Shaunnah was a lovely, friendly, popular little girl who is going to be greatly missed. We would be grateful if the children who have been told of Shaunnah's sad death and the school could be given the opportunity to come to terms with the grief that we all feel at the moment."

Earlier in the day PC Mick Holroyd, who stood outside the Turner home protecting Deborah from unwanted questions by the press, said she was completely distraught. He added : "She will be for a very long time. You have just got to do the best you can at the end of the day."

Another neighbour, who refused to give his name because he was so clearly upset, said: "I've got a young daughter myself. This is worse than any road accident. If this is all about religion then you can keep it."