Tour guide remembers Linda Vatcher

AMMAN — Among the victims of the Sunday terror attack in Karak was Canadian national Linda Vatcher, who was visiting Jordan with her son.

Interior Minister Salameh Hammad, during a joint press conference with Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani, said Vatcher was shot dead outside Karak Castle as the gunmen were shooting indiscriminately.

Vatcher, a retired teacher from Newfoundland, was visiting her son Chris, who works in the Middle East. They were among a group of people caught as gunmen opened fire near the Crusader castle, a tourist attraction.

Her son was shot and injured in the attack. He was taken to King Hussein Medical City, officials said.

Vatcher, 62, was a widow and a mother of two adult sons, according to Canadian website CBC News.

"She was very friendly, outgoing. She was nice to everyone. A friend to all," CBC quoted her cousin, Barb Rhymes, as saying.

One day before visiting Karak, Linda and her son visited Jerash, 45km north of Amman, where they hired a local tour guide to show them around the ruins of the ancient city,

Nader Habaibeh, an official tour guide at Jerash’s ancient city, told The Jordan Times that he met with Linda and her son on Saturday.

“On Saturday I did a tour with an intelligent tall young man, Chris, and his very kind mother Linda, both teachers. Chris is teaching in the Gulf, now in Qatar, and his mother Linda had retired after teaching back home in Canada,” said Habaibeh. 

“A conversation I remember vividly with Linda — one I always initiate to get some feedback — was after asking her why they had come to Jordan. She replied it was the planning of her son Chris, but she was so happy he made this decision, as she hadn’t expected to see this grandeur in the ruins, and felt lucky she could be in Jordan so far away from home,” he added. 

“We had a beautiful conversation on how educational travelling can be and how fortunate we are to live in this day and age,” the guide said.

Four terrorists were killed in the security operation in the southern governorate of Karak. 

Ten people — including four police officers and three gendarmes, in addition to two civilians and the Canadian Linda — were killed in the terror attack, while 34 other civilians and police officers were injured when the gunmen stormed the southern city and fired at security and civilians before heading to Karak Castle.