China sends planes to bring its citizens home

China sent two passenger planes yesterday and was sending two more charter flights today to pick up its citizens stranded in Cairo as anti-government protests in Egypt showed no sign of easing. An Air China A330 left Beijing at 11:30am yesterday. The plane, which can carry 265 passengers, was due to arrive in Cairo at between 4 and 5pm local time and is expected back in Beijing this morning "if the ground support work at the Cairo airport goes smoothly," an Air China official said. A Hainan Airlines A330, with a seating capacity of up to 280 passengers, left at noon and is expected back in Beijing at noon today. There are more than 500 Chinese at the airport. Air China is to send two more planes early this morning. A taskforce composed of officials from the Foreign Ministry, National Tourism Administration, Ministry of Public Security and Civil Aviation Administration has also left for Egypt, Xinhua news agency reported. Among the Chinese at the airport are 40 primary school students from the southern Guangzhou City who had been invited to perform at a New Year concert in Cairo. The Cairo airport was a scene of chaos and confusion yesterday as thousands of foreigners sought to flee the unrest in Egypt and countries around the world scrambled to send in planes. Nerves frayed, shouting matches erupted and some passengers even had a fistfight as thousands crammed into Cairo airport's new Terminal 3 seeking a flight home, The Associated Press reported. Making matters worse, check-in counters were poorly staffed because many EgyptAir employees had been unable to get to work due to a 3pm-8am curfew and traffic breakdowns across the Egyptian capital. "It's an absolute zoo, what a mess," Justine Khanzadian, 23, a graduate student from the American University of Cairo told the AP. "I decided to leave because of the protests, the government here is just not stable enough to stay." A US military plane landed at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus yesterday afternoon ferrying 42 US Embassy officials and their dependents from ! Egypt. T he US Embassy in Nicosia said at least one more plane was expected with about 180 people, most of them US citizens, the agency said. By midday, an announcement filtered through the airport instructing Chinese, Danish, German, British and Canadian passengers that their governments had sent planes to evacuate them. Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Egypt rejected claims it didn't provide protection for a film delegation which had arrived in Cairo. The group was not allowed out of the airport because of the curfew, an embassy statement said. The embassy put them up in the airport's VIP lounge and secured them seats leaving the city the next day. Screenwriter Ning Caishen microblogged on Sina.com.cn "the embassy ignored their cries for help." Later, he apologized for the post and expressed appreciation for embassy staff.