Foreigners being flown out of Egypt

Mon, 31 Jan 2011

Cairo - Increasing numbers of foreigners left Egypt on Monday as the United States, Germany, India and other countries chartered planes to evacuate their citizens.

The US was relocating citizens to "safe havens" in Europe, including Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley told reporters in Washington about 1,200 citizens were flown out on Monday with additional flights planned for Tuesday.

People with severe medical conditions are to be granted priority access to the flights, which passengers will be billed for at a later date. Around 90,000 US citizens are estimated to live in Egypt.

Cypriot officials said more than 19 chartered flights evacuating Canadian, American, German, Dutch, Chinese and British citizens were expected to arrive on the eastern Mediterranean island in the afternoon.

Greece also said it had military transport planes on standby to get its citizens out of the country.

Two flights from Cairo arrived in Frankfurt after the German embassy arranged transport for around 140 diplomatic staff and other citizens living in the city.

Energy giant RWE also chartered a flight for around 90 employees and their families based at the company's Egyptian operations. RWE- chief Juergen Grossmann said the situation had "taken us all by surprise."

The head of the German school in the port city of Alexandria hoped the 20-odd German staff would be able to leave the country soon, and said the city's police force had been entirely replaced by militia.

"We keep experiencing that people are being beaten up or dragged away and even being killed with knives and sabers," said school director Hubert Mueller.

Greece announced plans to fly two C-130 military transport aircraft to evacuate citizens from Alexandria, but had to wait for permission to land in Egypt.

"The planes are ready to take off. We are in contact with the local authorities. But we can only fly once the landing is secured in Alexandria," said a Foreign Ministry spokesman. The hardest part was arranging for people to reach the airport safely, he added.

Around 300 Indians arrived in Mumbai - around half of the total number who asked the Cairo embassy to fly them home. A second flight was due to leave later in the day.

Two passenger jets also set off from China on Monday to evacuate more than 500 Chinese citizens stranded at Cairo's main airport, state media said. Taiwan also announced plans to evacuate more than 450 holiday-makers.

Turkey, Australia and Indonesia also organized flights to repatriate citizens.

Meanwhile, Austria demanded that the European Union play a greater role in coordinating the repatriation of EU nationals.

"We have a real problem there, as our citizens in the region are already endangered here and there," said Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger.

As each EU country is organizing its own evacuations, the minister said Austria was starting with its citizens in Cairo, where the risk was greatest.

"But this is a coordinating role that the European Union should have in this context," Spindelegger added.

Cairo's international airport, to the north-east of the city, has been filled in recent days with foreigners attempting to leave the country on an insufficient number of outbound flights.

The US football team also canceled a planned friendly in Cairo, which was to have taken place February 9, due to concerns about the security situation.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/365226,foreigners-being-flown-egypt.html.