Cairo - Cairo's international airport was a scene of chaos and confusion on Monday as thousands of foreigners sought to flee the unrest in Egypt, and countries around the world scrambled to send in planes to fly their citizens out.
Nerves frayed and shouting and shoving matches erupted as thousands crammed into Cairo airport's new Terminal 3 seeking a flight home. The airport's departures board stopped announcing flight times in an attempt to reduce the tension - but the plan backfired, fuelling passengers' anger.
Making matters worse, check-in counters were poorly staffed because many EgyptAir employees had been unable to get to work due to a 3pm to 8am curfew and traffic breakdowns across the Egyptian capital.
“It's an absolute zoo, what a mess,” said Justine Khanzadian, 23, a graduate student from the American University of Cairo. “I decided to leave because of the protests. The government here is just not stable enough to stay.”
Food was scarce at the airport, with people buying up chocolate in the duty free shop. Airport staff shouted at travellers to get in line, but many were in no mood to listen. The scheduling board listed flight numbers without destinations or times of departure.
Occasionally, an official emerged and shouted out the destination of a departing flight, triggering a rush of passengers with boarding passes. The process worked smoothly for nationals of countries that had sent planes - such as Denmark, Germany, China, Canada - but others had no such support.
By curfew time, some people who had apparently failed to get on a flight out of Egypt had boarded buses for the ride back into Cairo.
The US State Department said on Monday that it has evacuated more than 1 200 Americans from Egypt aboard government-chartered planes and expects to fly out roughly 1 400 more in the coming days.
Department spokesperson PJ Crowley said that by the end of Monday six planes will have flown nine flights ferrying US citizens from Cairo to Larnaca, Cyprus; Athens, Greece; and Istanbul, Turkey. He said that on Tuesday an additional destination, Frankfurt, Germany, will be added, and that the department plans to add evacuation flights from Aswan and Luxor, Egypt.
In addition to the chartered aircraft, Crowley said a small number of Americans left Egypt on a Canadian evacuation flight and about 70 left on Sunday aboard a US military plane that was bringing in embassy staff.
EgyptAir resumed its flights on Monday morning from Cairo after a roughly 14-hour break because of the curfew and its inability to field enough crew. Over 20 hours, only 26 of about 126 EgyptAir flights operated, airport officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.
Greek oil worker Markos Loukogiannakis, who arrived in Athens on a flight carrying 181 passengers including 65 US citizens, said confusion reigned at Cairo airport and travellers had to negotiate a string of checkpoints just to get there.
“In a 22km route from our suburb to the airport we had to get through 19 checkpoints, including nine manned by civilians,” he said. “There were lots of people gathering at the airport and it was very difficult to get in.”
He said security had deteriorated sharply over the past three days in Cairo after police withdrew from the streets.
“There was a wave of attacks by criminal elements who engaged in burglaries and wrecked shops and banks. There was a lot of shooting and residents took up the burden of protecting their property,” he said.
Jane Travis, an American tourist from Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, who was evacuated to Athens, said she and her husband heard shooting from their hotel.
“We are very concerned that there was no warning from our State Department before we came on this trip,” she said. “From our hotel, which was well guarded, we heard the gunshots and it was very terrifying.”
Two Americans - Valerie Doescher and Nelson Clark - arrived in Istanbul on Monday aboard a regularly scheduled Turkish Airlines flight and were relieved to be out of Egypt.
Doescher said left after protests near the building where she was interning “grew in a completely exponential way”. Clark said his three-hour drive brought him to an airport that “was a nightmare”. - Sapa-AP