Speaking to Arab News, Reshma Shah, a tourist who was held up in Sharm El-Sheikh said, “The people of Egypt have launched a countrywide agitation demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak…”
Hardeep Singh, who had gone as a tourist to Egypt said, “A large number of citizens have come out on the streets holding protests and demanding the resignation of President Mubarak. The demonstrators have set a deadline for Mubarak to resign by Friday and leave Egypt. The situation in Egypt is very tense and the law and order has collapsed,” Singh stated.
Several non-resident Indians based in Egypt said they had taken a decision to leave Egypt when prisoners broke out of jail over the weekend and mobs joined them in looting. Balaji Kishwe, a technician with Kirloskar Group who has been working in Cairo for the past 10 years said, “It was difficult for us to sleep at night. My wife and I decided to leave with whatever we could collect. At one point the situation was so tense that we were armed with sticks to tackle and fight the looters.”
The retuning Indians had much to say to the media about the chaos in Cairo. Jigar Sethi, who had gone to Cairo for holidays said that though his return ticket on Egypt Air was around rupees 25,000, he had to pay rupees 45,000 as a one-way fare to board the special Air India flight to Mumbai. As he and other Indians did not have enough cash, they had to sign an undertaking with the national carrier that they would pay the money on reaching India.
Meanwhile, 22 people including senior citizens from Pune and the twin city of Pimpri-Chinchwad, who had gone to Egypt on a 10-day tour package got stuck in Cairo. Relatives of the group in Pune alleged that Air India was demanding twice the normal fare to fly the group back from Cairo to Mumbai.
Responding to the allegations, Air India Manager in Pune Dhiryashil Vandekar refused to comment on the fare issue but said Air India did not have a scheduled flight to Cairo and was operating unscheduled commercial flights to bring back the stranded Indians from there and that the entire operation was being coordinated by the Indian Embassy in Cairo.
