320 back from Cairo, 200 expected on next flight

Mumbai: Cut off from the world for days and battling looters on Cairo streets since anti-Hosni Mubarak protesters captured the main city square, a planeload of 320 harried Indians were evacuated from the Egyptian capital on Monday and flown to Mumbai.
Soon after the Air India special Boeing-737 landed in Mumbai, vacationers, business travelers and even NRIs settled in Egypt poured out to meet anxious friends and relatives and share stories of horror from the last week.
Many who were there to receive the evacuees said the last three days were the most anxious ones of their lives as communications with stranded relatives were snapped with authorities briefly blocking net access and mobile phones. Since most were tracking events on television, the relief of seeing loved ones safe was hard to contain with much hugging and weeping seen at the arrival terminal.
"Even after I reached the airport, I didn`t know if I would make it to India. There was utter chaos. Lots of people had gathered at the airport and were trying to find a way out,`` said the Mumbai-based businessman who spent a night at Cairo airport.
The 320 passengers who came in on Monday were lucky to have made it as many others were stuck and struggling to get a ticket back.
01/02/11 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Categories: Air India Feb 2011, Foreign Feb 2011