As the US urged all Americans to get out ofEgypt, one local dad breathed a sigh of relief Sunday after hearing from his daughter in Cairo for the first time in days.
"They are doing good. The military has been keeping them safe," said Jim Burke, of Port Jefferson, L.I., whose 20-year-old daughter Kyleen is studying in the Middle East.
Kyleen, a junior at Gordon College inMassachusetts, had been incommunicado since Wednesday, but finally managed to reach her family early Sunday morning.
Communications in Egypt have been severely disrupted since the government switched off the Internet and cell phone communications in a bid to stop growing unrest.
Burke, a 51-year-old lawyer whose firefighter brother died on Sept. 11, said his daughter's program had organized a flight to get her class to Istanbul on Tuesday where they would continue their studies.
"She sounded very positive. She said people in the neighborhood where they were staying apologized to them for the trouble," he said. "People there have been very good to her."
"She's a political science major, so it's a tremendous learning experience," he said.
Burke's good news came as the U.S. Embassy in Cairo announced it would begin transporting Americans out of the turmoil-engulfed country starting today.
"U.S. citizens currently in Egypt should consider leaving as soon as they can safely do so," the State Department said in a travel alert.
Several other governments, including China, France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden,Russia and many Middle Eastern countries followed suit.
Stern warnings against travelling to Egypt in the first place were issued around the globe.
Many foreigners had flocked to Cairo's International Airport only to fine many flights out of the country had been cancelled.
Some nations, like Israel and Saudi Arabia, had already sent special flights to evacuate their citizens. Others hopped private jets to make their escape.