Irish people stranded in Egypt urged to contact embassy in Cairo
The Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan has urged any Irish citizens in Egypt who may be concerned about developments there since the Russian plane crash, to contact the Irish Embassy in Cairo.
Minister Flanagan said his department had provided advice to a very small number of citizens who had made contact with the Consular Assistance Unit in Dublin and with the Embassy of Ireland in Cairo seeking information.
He said there were currently no Irish tour operators with package holiday groups in Sharm El Sheikh.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is continuing to monitor the situation in Egypt through the Embassy in Cairo and is in close contact with EU colleagues.
They will continue to review and update travel advice as appropriate.
Meanwhile, the first Easyjet flight to leave Sharm el-Shiekh today landed a short time ago at Gatwick.
A Thomas Cook plane which was expected to pick up British tourists stranded in Egypt is now returning to Manchester after it seemed to divert over Albania and fly back the way it came.
Egyptian officials say just eight of the 29 planned flights back to the UK will operate today, and confusion still surrounds the flight arrangements.
Security has been increased after the Russian passenger jet was downed by a suspected bomb last weekend.
Orla Digney from Belfast said she did not know when she would get home.
"There's mostly a lot of panic, especially as we were told additional flights were going to come into the airport today to take us all home and we've been informed that's not going to happen," she said.
"We're just taking a chance and hoping it's not involving our airlines (as) we've not heard anything from them today."
