Skin disease therapy: Safaga sand

The German government has approved a $2 million US program to exploit the special properties of sand in the Safaga area for medical purposes, said Major-General Osman Guinidy, chief of Safaga city.

He added that experiments carried out by Egyptian and German experts and scientists have proved the special properties of the sand in the area help in dealing with certain skin diseases.

"The Germans were the first to discover these properties and make use of them," Guinidy was quoted by a Cairo daily as saying, adding that the new German program is expected to introduce a new sort of therapy tourism to the area which has already become one the most popular of the flourishing Red Sea tourist spas, Al Wafd reported.