PONTIAN, Aug 18 — The government is monitoring hourly the turbulence in Egypt and is prepared to launch an “Ops Piramid” at any time if the situation worsens and endangers the 3,300 students and Malaysian nationals there.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the government had instructed National Security Council secretary Datuk Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab to go to Egypt to find out the situation and to signal if an evacuation had to be done.

“We see the situation there as getting more worrying, areas which were seen to have subsided (in turmoil) are now getting hotter. So, we are sending our special representative to survey the situation and give the signal if an evacuation must be done.

“All logistical preparations are in place. Malaysian Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia have offered to help,” he told reporters after attending an Pontian Umno’s Aidilfitri Open House here today.

If the security situation ruled out the use of commercial airports, Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) assets would be used for the “Ops Piramid”, said Hishammuddin.

Hishammuddin had chaired an emergency meeting Thursday with representatives of agencies such as the National Security Council, Transport Ministry, MAS and AirAsia to discuss measures to evacuate Malaysians in Egypt if the situation there worsens.

Prior to this, “Ops Piramid 1” was launched on February 2011 with 6,577 Malaysian evacuated from Egypt to Jeddah before being flown home.

They were airlifted using TUDM assets, namely, C-130 aircraft following the eruption of the Arab Spring to topple Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

In Kuala Lumpur, Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan said ‘safe houses’ had been set up in Egypt to facilitate the extraction of Malaysian students if the situation warranted it.

He said the Education Ministry and the Malaysian Embassy in Cairo had identified several safe areas as they were not affected by the violent conflicts taking place in the beleaguered country.

“Safe houses are created if we need to pull out Malaysians immediately. Planning and preparations have been made,” he told Bernama when attending a Sarawathi Devi Diksha ceremony by Amma Sri Karunamayi from India in Batu Caves here today.

In this regard, Kamalanathan said Malaysian students and citizens in Egypt must constantly contact the embassy to find out the locations of the ‘safe houses’.

“We have experience in bringing home Malaysian students and we will use the experience and improve on it to ensure no Malaysian student or citizen is affected by the conflict there,” he added. — Bernama