As many as 3,600 Indians are believed to be stranded in the North African country, many at the Cairo airport alone.
As President Hosni Mubarak struggled to hold on to power in Egypt amid intensifying popular discontent, India on Sunday moved in to shift its citizens to safety. It has urged them to consider “leaving the troubled country as soon as they can safely do so’’ and has set in motion one of the largest of its kind evacuation operations.
As many as 3,600 Indians are believed to be stranded in the North African country, many at the Cairo airport alone.
National carrier Air India (AI) operated a special flight to Cairo on Sunday evening to bring them back. “There was an unscheduled commercial operation to bring back the stranded passengers,” said the spokesperson for AI.
The Boeing 747 with a capacity of around 430 passengers and full crew complement was flown to Cairo at 5pm on January 30, the spokesperson told DNA.
“It will be back to India by 6.30am on Monday,” he said. “If need be, we will operate more such flights. But today this is the only flight we are operating,” he added. Airlines like Egypt Air, Emirates and Etihad Airways offer connectivity between India and Egypt.
The evacuation announcement of the government reflects a sense of alarm over the political developments in Egypt. It comes close on the heels of the external affairs ministry sources indicating that the government had made up its mind to get the families of embassy staff shifted back.
The police have withdrawn from all major cities in Egypt and the military has done little to hold back thousands of demonstrators defying a curfew to call for an end to Mubarak’s rule. Other countries like the US and Turkey, major allies of Egypt, have also decided to evacuate their citizens.
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