Expat workers crowd Kuwait airport, desperate to flee

KUWAIT: Clutching her airline ticket in one hand and her infant daughter in the other, Ruby Fahim waited yesterday for a flight out of Kuwait after the United States began bombing neighbouring Iraq. Throngs of people, mostly Indians, Pakistanis and Filipinos working in this oil-rich Gulf state, packed the small airport. Hundreds more lined up outside, prevented by security guards from entering until the crowds within thinned out.

At roadside checkpoints leading to the airport, police were allowing only passengers with tickets through. Fahim was taking her three children out of harm's way while leaving her husband behind so he could keep his job at a chemical company, making wages he would be unable to match back home in Lahore, Pakistan. Pakistan and other Asian countries promised to evacuate their nationals and planned emergency flights, but many planes were delayed. Apart from flag carrier Kuwait International Airlines, most airlines suspended service in the past few days as war neared.

The anxiety inside the airport sharpened as people learned around dawn that U.S. forces had fired cruise missiles at Baghdad in an apparently unsuccessful attempt to kill Iraqi President Saddam Hussein."We have been waiting since 5 o'clock yesterday to go home," Fahim said. "We have small kids and we are very worried about what Saddam might do." Iraq fired at least four missiles across the Kuwaiti border toward U.S. troops in the desert and one toward Kuwait City Thursday. No injuries or damage were reported and there was no immediate evidence the missiles had chemical or biological warheads.
Fahim spent the night sprawled in the airport, sleeping in her black chador in a plastic cafe chair as her older children slept fitfully or played with a suitcase painted with Mickey Mouse.

The travelers appearing to be taking many of their worldly possessions with them. Boxes and cheap bags closed with tape and twine piled up in the departure area and there wasn't a spare trolley to be found. Frayed tempers were evident and jostling broke out whenever anyone appeared to try to cut in line. Millions of foreigners work in the Gulf, many of them from Asia, occupying jobs from maids and waitresses to clerks and company managers. Most are expected to remain, fearful of losing their jobs if they leave or confident the war in Iraq won't reach them

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"We're not worried, but our parents want us to come back," said Joseph Chacko, 30, a teacher from the southern Indian state of Kerala. "Looking at the massive US force, we think nothing will happen in Kuwait. I plan to come back in two or three weeks." Chacko was travelling with his wife, their one-year-old son, and the year-old son of a friend who held the child closely for the last few hours before their separation.

Others have been told by their companies to leave. For many, the trigger was US President George W. Bush's now-expired deadline for Saddam to leave Iraq, and planes have been leaving full since Monday. "Our company has asked us to leave until the war is over," said Librato Roman, 32, a Manila native who works as an engineer for Hyundai. "For me, I don't feel unsafe, but our company is playing it safe." For Anwar Jamil, 65, the war is the last straw. A native of Faisalabad, Pakistan, he had lived in Kuwait for 30 years and ran a watch shop. During the 1990-91 Gulf War, he sat out the conflict in Jordan and eventually returned. This time, he's leaving for good."I'm an old man," said the white-bearded Jamil, sitting alone in the departure lounge. "I'm afraid of war. My family wants me to come home."