Thousands of Americans Stranded in Egypt
The New York Times reports:
Sharon Romey, who lives on a ranch in South Dakota, cannot help but worry about her son, Kade Klippenstein, a college freshman, who is stuck in Cairo. But even as images of violent protests flash across the television screen, she said, she felt that he was safe and that he was getting an extraordinary history lesson.
“Of course it’s worrisome, to have your child away,” she said by telephone on Saturday. “But what an experience, to watch people do what they’re doing for their freedom. It’s a huge education in something that we take for granted.”
Mr. Klippenstein is one of 71 members of the band at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., who were touring Egypt when demonstrations erupted last week against President Hosni Mubarak, causing flights in and out of the country to be delayed or canceled.
Most of the Augustana students are now scheduled to leave by Tuesday. Mr. Klippenstein’s trip will take him through Amsterdam, Minneapolis and Sioux Falls, which itself is six hours from his family’s cattle ranch.
The band members are among thousands trapped in hotels, in their homes or at the Cairo International Airport. The airport was a chaotic scene on Saturday, with at least 2,000 passengers scrambling to leave. Adding to the confusion was the lack of Internet access and cellphone service, both cut off by the government, although cellphone use was later restored.
One British flight to Cairo from England had to return to Heathrow Airport in London because it could not land in time to allow passengers to travel outside the Cairo airport before the government-imposed curfew was to begin.
The unrest was expected to deliver a serious blow to Egypt’s tourism industry. The United States State Department has urged Americans to “defer nonessential travel” to Egypt, and it advised those already there to “defer nonessential movement and to exercise caution.” The State Department also instructed Americans in Cairo to stay inside and “not attempt to come to the U.S. Embassy” if demonstrations were taking place.
