Flights evacuating Egyptians from Libya have been stalled for the past 12 hours as no more passengers wishing to return were present either at the airport in Tripoli, Libya, or Djerba, Tunisia.
"Though EgyptAir allocated some flights to carry Egyptians back home, flights were cancelled because there were no more passengers at Tripoli," sources at Cairo International Airport said.
"The cancellations extended to ordinary flights to and from Cairo for the same reason. Thirteen airlines have cancelled their flights only in 24 hours," they said.
On Monday, Egypt's Foreign Ministry announced that the total of Egyptians who had returned from Libya had reached 185,000, while the number of Arab and foreign evacuees stood at 45,000, arriving either by air or through the Salloum landport.
Assistant Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdel Hakam has told reporters that efforts are continuing for running extra flights to return Egyptians from Libya.
Egypt has the biggest foreign community in Libya, with 1.5 million people working in different Libyan cities.
Press reports had pointed that military forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi have been using Egyptians as human shields when attacked by revolutionaries.
But Abdel Hakam said his ministry has not received any information in that respect , arguing that the priority for the time being is to speed up the evacuation of Egyptians wishing to return.
