Residents stranded in Luxor will arrive Hong Kong tomorrow afternoon
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     The Under Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, said today (February 1) that, with swift support from the Central People's Government (CPG) and close co-ordination among the Special Administrative Region Government, the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a special flight of China Southern Airlines was deployed to bring back Hong Kong travellers from Luxor. The plane is scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong tomorrow afternoon.

     In a media session held this afternoon, Mr Lai expressed gratitude for the CPGˇ¦s support. He said, "Thanks to the CPG's co-ordination with the Egyptian authorities, the special flight is flying from Luxor to Hong Kong direct. The plane, an Airbus 330 aircraft with a capacity for 266 passengers, is able to accommodate all Hong Kong travellers stranded in Luxor."

     Mr Lai said, yesterday morning the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong (TIC) called on the Government to arrange a special flight to bring home the 274 Hong Kong tour group members stranded in Cairo. Sixty-one of them were in Cairo and 213 in Luxor.

     Mr Lai said, "Among the 61 tour group members in Cairo, 19 had indicated earlier that they would return to Hong Kong through their own scheduled flight. Forty-two other travellers had registered with the Chinese Embassy for boarding the additional special flight arranged by the Mainland Authorities in Cairo to take stranded travellers home. The flight departed Cairo at local time 2am today. The relevant travel agency subsequently changed its mind and chose to fly these travellers back via Bangkok on their scheduled flight.

     Mr Lai said, "TIC has been urging the Government to arrange a charter flight to bring back the 213 Hong Kong travellers stranded in Luxor via Cairo. The Government explained to the TIC this morning the arrangements regarding the special flight.

     "As at this afternoon, the TIC informed us that among the 213 tour group members in Luxor, two groups of about 52 persons would leave Egypt by their own means, they would hence not be taking the special flight arranged by the CPG.  As a result, around 160 tour group members will return to Hong Kong by the special flight. The China Southern Airlines aircraft has departed Guangzhou and is expected to arrive in Hong Kong tomorrow afternoon after a short stopover in Luxor."

     As for the expenses of the special flights, Mr Lai said, "Understanding public concern, the Government agrees that the expenses incurred should be handled in accordance with the user-pay principle and not be borne by the public coffer.

     "The special flight was arranged by the Government for tour group members at the request of the TIC.  We will follow up with the TIC directly to ensure proper handling of this issue."

     From January 29 to noon today (February 1), the Assistance to Hong Kong Residents Unit of the Immigration Department (the Unit) has received 308 enquiries, mainly related to the content of the outbound travel alert, flight information and local situation, etc. The Unit also received 47 assistance requests, all of which had been settled.  Twenty seven of these cases involved tour group members, while the remaining 20 cases involved individual visitors. Arrangements had been made for some of them to take the special flights arranged by the Mainland Authorities, while others had made their own arrangements to return to Hong Kong.

     Mr Lai said, "Once again, I wish to thank the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Peopleˇ¦s Republic of China and CPG for their care and support.  With their assistance, a special flight was deployed to bring back stranded Hong Kong travellers from Luxor in a safe and prompt manner."

     The Government will continue to liaise with the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Peopleˇ¦s Republic of China in Hong Kong, the Embassy and the tourism industry and provide all practicable assistance to Hong Kong residents in need. Residents outside Hong Kong who need assistance may call the 24-hour hotline (852) 1868 of the Assistance to Hong Kong Residents Unit of the Immigration Department.

Ends/Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Issued at HKT 23:53

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