KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 (Bernama) -- Three C-130 transport aircraft belonging to the Malaysian Royal Air Force will leave for Egypt around noon today in a mission to bring home Malaysian students from the troubled country.
National Security Council secretary Datuk Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab said the aircraft would also bring along foodstuff.
"At noon today, the aircraft will take off from Kuala Lumpur. They are taking with them food supply such as rice, cooking oil, flour, canned food and so on," he told Bernama when contacted.
He added that the government was now arranging temporary visas with the Saudi Arabian government to enable evacuation of students to Jeddah.
"Their number is huge so we are bringing them to Jeddah first," he said.
Last night, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak ordered the evacuation of Malaysian students due to the mounting uprising in Egypt.
Najib said the decision was made following a report by a team of Malaysian officials who is currently on a fact-finding mission to Egypt headed by Deputy Foreign Minister A. Kohilan Pillay and participated by the prime minister's political secretary Datuk Sahlan Ismail.
There are about 11,300 Malaysian students registered with the Malaysian Embassy in Egypt.
Hundreds of thousands of Egyptian stage demonstrations across major Egyptians cities in a bid to force President Hosni Mubarak to end his 30-year rule, plunging the country in its worst crisis in recent times.
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