Bay Area Student In Cairo Won't Evacuate Yet
(KCBS) - The State Department is using government chartered planes to evacuate Americans from Egypt, but not all of the U.S. citizens there want to leave.
Richmond native Sarah Layton has been in Cairo since June, studying Arabic at the American University in Cairo. Layton said, given the chaos at the airport, she'd prefer to stay put for the time being.
KCBS' Anna Duckworth Reports:
"If we do show up, we're very low priority obviously,"she said. "People with families, young children, medical conditions, they'd be evacuated before us."
"Myself and one other student are seriously considering the European evacuations," said Emma Morris of Vermont.
Morris said most students she knows are planning to wait till evacuations become mandatory.
Morris lives in Tahrir Square, Cairo's main plaza, but she is staying across the Nile River with Layton to avoid the protests. Morris packed an evacuation bag Monday morning.
"I went back to my apartment today and got the last few things I'd want to bring," she said.
Because the university is in the main square, its campus is closed indefinitely. Andrew Simon said he and other students have been going to the square during the day when the curfew is lifted. He finds the protests awe inspiring.
"I thought it was amazing going to the square this morning and seeing five-year-old children there, women coming out to protest, elderly citizens coming out to protest," he said. "In the beginning, it was really just middle-class, educated youth, and now it's really just Egyptians."
The students said getting food and supplies hasn't been a problem. The Internet is down, but they've been staying in touch with their families by phone.
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