EGYPT : Students Being Evacuated At No Cost

CAIRO, Feb 4 (Bernama) -- Malaysian students are being evacuated from strife-torn Egypt to Jeddah by the federal government at no cost, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom.
Dismissing claims that the students would be charged for the evacuation, he said the government also provided accommodation, bus transportation, food and drinks for them.
He said the government also arranged the process of issuing passports and visas for the students free-of-charge and paid their airport tax.
"We need cooperation from all parties but ironically, certain quarters are casting aspersion on our rescue effort," he told reporters here Friday.
Jamil Khir said the Royal Malaysian Navy's Bunga Mas 5 auxiliary ship, which had called at the Cairo Port, had yet to be mobilised as the aircraft were sufficient to fly out Malaysian students from Cairo.
"Anyway, travel by sea will take a longer time. From our meeting with the National Security Council, Wisma Putra and the Putra 1Malaysia Club yesterday, we feel that we will able to complete the rescue mission by deploying additional MAS, AirAsia and the Royal Malaysian Air Force planes," he said.
About 3,000 Malaysian students are expected to be flown from Cairo to Jeddah Friday, he added.

tunku : the opposition would take advantage on anything that they can....but this time they are too much.at this moment they should join hand in hand with the government to speed up the process of evacuation,offer help and not criticizing the government.they had showed that they are not patriotic at all.they only know about politics and greed for power.it is so sad that we have this low standard of oppositions in malaysia. they should know that it's not easy to evacuate 11000 people from oversea.do not compare with singapore which has few hundred people and 4000 indonesian in egypt.Thanks to the GOVERNMENT for their endless effort.