An Air India Boeing 747 left Mumbai for Cairo Sunday evening to bring any Indians who wanted to leave strife-torn Egypt back home. The airline, which does not have any regular flights to Cairo, said it was an “unscheduled commercial flight” undertaken at the government’s request, but “not an evacuation or rescue flight”.
There were few passengers on the jumbo jet flying to Cairo, but it is expected to return to Mumbai at 7 am on Monday with around 380 passengers, mainly women and children.
Some Indian embassy personnel and their family members might also be on this flight.
The Indian embassy in Cairo is arranging to evacuate some of its staff and their families as well as other Indian nationals. The embassy said Persons of Indian origin (PIOs) would be evacuated if they so desired. There are about 3,600 PIOs in Egypt, of which 2,200 are in Cairo.