Evacuation of other County people from Egypt

Posted: 02/02/2011 08:54:23 PM PST

For her 25th birthday, Ashley French wanted to go on an adventure.

But a flood of protesters overrunning the streets of Cairo proved to be more than French bargained for - the Rancho Cucamonga resident was stuck for more than 30 hours at the airport while trying to get out of the mayhem-engulfed capital of Egypt.

"It was (a scene) out of a movie," French said. "When we arrived (two weeks earlier) it looked like the Ontario airport, quiet, no problems. (On Friday) baggage was everywhere, children crying, people were being trampled. It was scary."

The United States began evacuating nonessential government personnel and their families Wednesday, amid slightly more organized chaos than earlier in the week when French and more than 18,000 others massed at the airport.

The exodus of foreigners and some Egyptians came as demonstrators demanding President Hosni Mubarak's ouster clashed with the president's supporters - some riding horses and camels - in central Cairo in a fresh outbreak of violence in the weeklong protests.

The U.S. Embassy said it expected to evacuate more than 1,000 Americans from Egypt over the next two days, including government personnel and other U.S. citizens.

Celebrating her birthday, French arrived in Egypt on Jan. 16 with her mom, Charisse, and sister Aimee.

"We said, `Let's see the Pyramids,"' French said. "We turned down Greece because they had some issues there recently. We didn't want to take a chance."

The trio spent the first week touring the Pyramids and taking a cruise up the Nile. The second leg of their journey included a visit to the tourist resort Sharm el-Sheikh, followed by a 24-hour hike up Mount Sinai.

"It was really nice," French said. "We slept at the top and left at sunrise."

When they returned to Sharm el-Sheikh on Jan. 26, "all hell broke loose in Cairo," French said. "It went from a peaceful demonstration to streets flooded with people. The Internet service was down. The only cell phones that were working were those from the U.S. carriers."

Following their initial plans, French, her mom and her sister flew to Cairo on Friday morning to catch a connecting flight to Paris and then on to Los Angeles.

"Our agent was not there to meet us at the terminal, so we decided to take a shuttle bus," French said. "We met this guy in a suit who told us, `Don't leave the airport, there is a 4p.m. curfew, the soldiers have been ordered to shoot to kill,' and it was like 3:45 (p.m.)."

The scene back at the main terminal was "chaos," French said. "Seventy-five percent of the people were foreigners like us trying to get out."

Most flights out of Cairo were either canceled or delayed. French joined another group of Americans and took turns sleeping and watching the luggage. They were able to make calls on their cell phones, but only a minute or two in duration before the line would get cut off.

"The airport kept the news on TV, but it was in Arabic, so all you see were demonstrations, tanks on the streets, but no explanation," French said. "The scariest thing was when we heard that prisoners got out of the jail, which was apparently two miles from the airport, a maximum security facility.

"While we were in Egypt I never felt unsafe until we got to the airport," French said. "During our trip everyone was kind. We met so many friendly, educated people. When they would hear that we are from the States, they would say `America, freedom."'

More than 30 hours later, on Sunday, they boarded an Air France plane headed to Paris. The standby list for the flight had more than 1,200 names on it. Some people were leaving Cairo to go back to Baghdad, French said.

The curfew had forced many airlines to readjust their schedules to account for the times when passengers would be able to come to the airport. Several temporarily suspended flights.

French and her relatives arrived in Los Angeles on Monday evening. Their luggage made it back also.

French's plans for her next birthday?

"Staying in the U.S., definitely," she laughed. "Hawaii is a stretch."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.