A University of Cincinnati student was trying to flee Egypt Sunday and return to the United States.
“I’ve been more scared these last couple days than I have ever been in my entire life,” David Watkins said Sunday from the airport in Alexandria, Egypt. “They were definitely the most trying hours of my life so far.”
Watkins said he was trying to sleep early Sunday and gunfire erupted outside his window.
“I could see the guys shooting. … I was definitely ready to be gone,” he said.
In a series of Twitter posts provided to The Enquirer, Watkins described a dangerous situation.
“Pray for us! Alex is a war zone,” he wrote on Sunday, presumably referring to the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria.
In another Twitter post on Sunday, he reported a full-scale evacuation and called it the worst 24 hours of his life. He said he was leaving things behind.
Less than an hour later, he tweeted he had “just emptied pantries and fridge of food and gave it to soldiers on tank and armed neighbors protecting us.”
The U.S. State Department on Sunday recommended that Americans avoid traveling to Egypt because of “ongoing political and social unrest.” It said Americans in Egypt should consider leaving as soon as they safely can.
Watkins, who is 21 and from Sidney, Ohio, is studying political science and international affairs at UC. He traveled to Egypt to study at Alexandria University through Butler University in Indianapolis, leaving earlier this month. He’s in Egypt with a group of American college students. The program was to last until May 27.
Watkins planned to fly out on Monday, first going to Athens before traveling to the United States.
“It’s quite scary,” said his mother, Julie Watkins, of Sidney. “He’s told us just about I think everything that’s been happening to him.”
