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RAF C17 transport plane in Tunisia
Tunisian ambulances bringing injured British nationals to a RAF C17 transport plane on Monday before being flown back to the UK. Photograph: Sgt Neil Bryden RAF/MoD Crown Co/PA
Tunisian ambulances bringing injured British nationals to a RAF C17 transport plane on Monday before being flown back to the UK. Photograph: Sgt Neil Bryden RAF/MoD Crown Co/PA

Tunisia shooting victims on their way back to Britain

This article is more than 8 years old

Repatriation of bodies of Britons killed in last week’s terror attack in Sousse begins, with UK death toll expected to rise to 30

The bodies of eight Britons killed by a gunman in the Tunisian beach massacre will be returned to the UK on Wednesday.

A convoy of four ambulances brought them to Tunis military airport ahead of an RAF flight to Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

The foreign office said those being returned were: Adrian Evans, Charles Evans, Joel Richards, Carly Lovett, Stephen Mellor, John Stollery, and Denis and Elaine Thwaites.

Meanwhile, the names of two more people who died in the attack emerged, following a statement from their family. Relatives of Christopher and Sharon Bell, from Leeds, said they were “deeply saddened” by the deaths at the beach resort of Sousse on Friday.

The first RAF flights left Britain early on Wednesday morning and will carry the bodies back to Brize Norton, with the repatriation process for all the victims expected to take a number of days.

Twenty-four Britons are confirmed to be among the 38 shot dead by student Seifeddine Rezgui, 23. The British death toll is expected to rise to 30.

All wounded Britons have been brought back to the UK, with four severely injured holidaymakers flown home in an RAF C17 transport plane accompanied by “medevac” teams. They are being treated at hospitals in Birmingham, Oxford, Plymouth and London.

Among the four is Allison Heathcote, 48, from Felixstowe, Suffolk, who was celebrating her 30th wedding anniversary when she was shot repeatedly in the stomach and shoulder. She was pictured shortly after the attack in a pink bikini lying immobile on a sun lounger as hotel staff tended to her wounds.

Her husband Philip, 52, was killed in the terror attack. She has undergone surgery at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, where she remains in a critical condition.

A single inquest covering all of the British dead is to be opened by the west London coroner.

Flowers laid on the beach in Sousse. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

The latest victims to be named include James and Ann McQuire from Cumbernauld, and Billy and Lisa Graham from Bankfoot, near Perth, who were visiting the resort to celebrate Mrs Graham’s 50th birthday.

The family of Janet and John Stocker, aged 63 and 74, have confirmed “with regret and great sadness” that the “happiest, most loving” couple died in the Tunisia shootings.

Their family said in a statement: “Mum and dad were the happiest, most loving couple who enjoyed life’s simple pleasures as well as the pleasures and love of their extensive family and their many friends, but most of all they were still very much in love with each other.”

Tunisian authorities were questioning several suspected associates of Rezgui, who had links to the terror group Islamic State. They have said he acted alone during the rampage but had accomplices who supported him before, providing him with weapons and logistical support.

The Tunisian president, Beji Caid Essebsi, said an investigation was under way into security failures and there would be armed tourist police on beaches.

A minute’s silence will be held in memory of the victims at noon on Friday, a week after the outrage. Flags are expected to be flown at half-mast over government departments and Buckingham Palace that day.

A group understood to be relatives of some of the British dead were among scores of people, local and European, who left flowers and messages at the memorials to the victims on the beach at Sousse on Tuesday.

The group, escorted by security guards, left bouquets, one with a message saying: “Taken too soon, missed by so many, always in our thoughts, lots of love, Denise, Paul, Mark, Kelly, Lee.”

Armed police continued to patrol the beach in front of the five-star hotels, which were almost empty at what should be a peak time in the tourist season.

Nick Longman, the managing director of Thomson and First Choice, confirmed that 22 British people positively identified as victims were customers of the tour operators.

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