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Terrace resident safely out of Egypt

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Angela Parmar left Egypt Feb. 1.

THE DAUGHTER of local couple Nirmal and Rani Parmar left Egypt on the first available plane amidst an increasingly chaotic situation regarding the presidency of Hosni Mubarak.

Angela Parmar, 37, who had been teaching Grade 7 at the BC Canadian International School in Cairo, Egypt since last November, took a flight out of Cairo Feb. 1 to Frankfurt, Germany, said her dad Nirmal yesterday.

She then took a plane to Nice, France where she has friends and intends to stay there about a week, under the assumption that tensions in Egypt will have calmed down by then, said Parmar.

“She's all right,” he said.

During the last week of January, an uprising against Mubarak broke out as public frustration with corruption, oppression and economic hardship boiled over.

Protestors took to the streets and a group against Mubarak clashed with a group who supports him Feb. 1.

If the situation in Egypt hadn't improved by this week, Angela planned to fly to London, England where she has family and friends, Parmar added.

On Sunday, January 30, the principal of the school she teaches at decided to leave and advised teachers to leave too for a week or 10 days until things settled down, said Parmar.

His daughter was safe despite the actions of demonstrators, he said.

“There was some looting in the neighbourhood but they were pretty safe,” he said.

“We've been in touch with her twice a day since this started.”

Angela phoned when she left her apartment to say she was leaving, and two-and-a-half hours later when she reached the airport safe and sound, she called again, he said.

She did have to pay $400 to get on the flight to Frankfurt, which was a plane sent by the Canadian government, said Parmar.

After she arrived in Germany, Angela bought her own ticket to France, her dad added.

Parmar said he and his wife were worried a bit as there was no cell phone service for three or four days and then she managed to call them from a land line.

They talked for an hour and she then would Skype her parents to communicate, he said.

She went to Egypt to teach because “she's that type of person,” Parmar continued.

She had travelled to Australia, New Zealand, France, Greece, Turkey, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Germany for travel and for work.

However, this was the first time Angela had been in a country with this kind of unrest, said her dad.