The Foreign Ministry denied neglecting the Egyptians that were stranded in Thailand during the recent events in the capital Bangkok. Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs and Egyptians Abroad Ahmed Rizq told Al-Masry Al-Youm: “Our ambassador there assured me that there was no negligence.” He added: “An Egyptian asked the embassy to send a plane to carry the 20 people stranded in the airport, but it was difficult because air traffic was stopped completely, as was reported by the Thai authorities.” He said the Thai government provided at its own expense hotel rooms for 250,000 people of all nationalities who were stranded there. He added that the ambassador in Bangkok advised the Egyptians to stay in their hotels until the crisis is over, or travel by train to Malaysia and take Egypt Air from there to Cairo without charge. He said that the UAE citizens who were transported by their Consul in buses so as to fly back were unable to leave by air. He said it was expected that the airport would not reopen except in 15 days, in which case the Council of Ministers was going to send a special plane to bring the Egyptians back, but the airport was reopened immediately and the stranded came back with Egypt Air last Saturday.
