大象传媒

We had been in the Delta area only a few weeks (See "The Interrupted Voyage") and were just becoming acclimatised when a new weather phenomenon struck - the Khamsin. Looking out in the morning from the big marquee in which we were housed, I saw an ominous, massive dark cloud in the distance, and felt the first stirrings of what soon became a powerful, hot wind. "Three days in a Khamsin and a man goes mad,"said the local Arabs. This one lasted about twenty-four hours - quite long enough. The dark cloud was a mass of whirling sand, and within minutes we were in the midst of it, being buffeted, choked and blinded. The only thing to do was to grope your way to your bedspace and burrow under your blankets. But the blasts of wind grew ever stronger and finally, with a ripping of canvas and wrenching out of tent pegs, our marquee took off and disappeared into the darkness. It was never recovered.

I managed to find an empty wireless truck and took refuge till the storm finally died down. My only sustenance during this long period was a tin of emergency "chocolate" - quite revolting.

When I emerged , it was to see a ghostly army appearing from other vehicles and from blanket-covered holes in the ground. Greenish-yellow sand stuck to every inch of sweating skin, clogged the hair, filled the nostrils, eyes and ears - found its way into every crevice of the human body. It had also penetrated into every corner of the cookhouse stores, and we ate some abrasive meals over the next few days.

Perhaps more important was the effect on air filters in vehicles and aircraft. With inadequate filtration, a running engine could be fouled up in a few minutes, and great damage done. Top priority orders went back to the factories, and workers did a lot of overtime to design and build new and more effective types of filter.

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