UN evacuates 400 staff and family members from Egypt to Cyprus

The United Nations will evacuate about 400 staff and family members from Egypt today and will temporarily base them in Cyprus, a spokesman said.

As many as four charter flights will transport the staff to Cyprus from this afternoon, Rolando Gomez, a spokesman for the UN force in Cyprus, said in a phone interview today. They will be temporarily relocated in Cyprus due to the security situation in Egypt, he said, NewsMax.com reports.

About 40 flights were expected to leave, including charter flights, compared to over 90 on Wednesday, airport officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Airport officials said five Egyptians were detained Thursday for carrying weapons in their luggage. The five men were coming from Kenya and had stashed knives and whips in their baggage, apparently to defend themselves with upon their arrival in the capital, the officials said, according to Kansas City Star.