Muscat: The Omani government has allocated aircraft to transport citizens residing in and visiting Egypt, as well as students wishing to return home.
The foreign ministry advised citizens to stay in touch with the country’s embassy in Cairo in a statement to Oman News Agency on Monday. The mission will provide all necessary facilities for their return to the Sultanate including providing safe accommodation till travel date.
The Ministry also pointed out that while some Omanis were transported on Monday, others, especially students, decided willingly to continue their stay in Egypt.
The embassy has asked Omanis to avoid areas where demonstrations are being held, and has released a list of emergency contact numbers: 0227337181, 0233037773, 01002436605 and 01019944368 or 01111393547
In 2011, at least 400 Omani students returned to Muscat from troubled Cairo after protesters took to the streets demanding President Hosni Mubarak’s ouster.
Oman Air had then deployed two aircraft to evacuate Omani students and bring them home safely. At that time 2,653 Omanis were pursuing studies there in different disciplines.
It is not yet known how many students are currently in Cairo.
On Sunday millions of Egyptians flooded the streets nationwide in a massive outpouring of anger and frustration with the president and his Muslim Brotherhood party, the Islamist group that propelled Mohammad Mursi to power.
The protests were largely peaceful, although in a sign of the volatility of the country’s divisions, clashes erupted in the evening around the Brotherhood’s Cairo headquarters between armed Mursi supporters barricaded inside the building and young protesters pelting it with firebombs and rocks.
