Nineteen University of California study-abroad students, along with a UCLA team of archeology students and researchers, have been evacuated from Egypt, university officials said Tuesday.
The group, which was en route back to California, includes students from various UC campuses who were due to have started a semester-abroad program Jan. 31 at the American University in Cairo. Those plans were scuttled after days of massive anti-government protests in Cairo and across Egypt led to U.S. State Department travel warnings and the evacuation of hundreds of Americans and other foreigners from the country.
Lynn Tierney, a University of California spokeswoman, said all in the UC group were safe. "They're all OK but there's certainly going to be an adjustment for them, coming back to the campuses," she said. "They were anticipating they'd be spending several months in Egypt."
Others evacuated included an 11-member team of students, researchers and staff affiliated with an archeology field program of UCLA's Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. They were on a dig in Amarna, about 200 miles south of Cairo, officials said.