Dutch beer company Heineken and oil company Shell have also decided to withdraw their Dutch employees. Other Dutch nationals living in Egypt have been told to “consider leaving the country”.

Israel already evacuated dozens of its nationals including diplomats on Sunday morning. The United States, Turkey, Russia and Saudi Arabia have advised their citizens in Egypt to leave the country. India is preparing to bring back 260 diplomats and considering the evacuation of over 3000 of its nationals. The Philippine government is sending civil servants to Egypt to help over 6000 students and domestic servants return home.

KLM sent a larger than normal plane with room for an extra 100 passengers to Cairo early on Sunday morning. Flight schedules had already been changed to work around the night curfews.