Seven British holiday makers have been killed and eleven seriously injured after the coach they were travelling on was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan.
They were on the way to Sangin, a small town located in the country’s notorious Helmand province, where they had planned to visit Osama’s Juicy Chicken Bar, a fashionable eatery recently described by Sunday Times food critic, A.A. Gill, as 'dangerously delicious' and 'sizzlingly sexy.'
However, the party of 28 tourists from Guildford, Surrey, who had told their driver they wanted to experience 'the real Afghanistan' were ambushed by militants as they entered the town. A US military spokesman said it was: 'somewhat unbelievable they weren’t all killed.'
Dangerous Restaurant Tourism (sometimes referred to as DRT) has been on the increase as well-heeled Westerners look to eat in ever more unpredictable neighbourhoods and war zones. Only last year, two British tourists were kidnapped in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, where they were trying to track down the world’s last surviving Wendy’s burger bar outlet.
Speaking from his home near Bury St Edmonds in Suffolk, former Beirut hostage Terry Waite said: 'This trend is very sad and it’s time someone spoke out and pointed to the very real dangers involved in DRT, possibly by writing a very long and tedious book.'
Waite was held for 1,763 days in the Lebanese capital after travelling to the country to dine at Ali’s Plaice, a fish restaurant he had heard television chef, Rick Stein, describe as 'Sublime…explosively busy,’ and ‘well worth the wait.'
The Foreign Office has reacted by pledging to publish 'a comprehensive list of areas that are safe to eat in' on its website by the end of the week. The make-up of the list has however already become embroiled in controversy after Home Secretary, Theresa May, asked for areas within the UK to be added, including Manchester's Moss Side, St Paul’s in Bristol and the whole of Hull.