SEVERAL non-governmental organizations started evacuating staff by helicopter on Saturday from Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown to Conakry. Expatriate staff were seen boarding a helicopter belonging to the UN World Food Program (WFP) office. WFP officials at the heliport said it was the second flight so far on Saturday. The WFP representative in Sierra Leone, Patrick Buckley, insisted it was “not an evacuation as such,” but said: “We are taking out people who want to get out until the situation gets clearer.” “We’ll take a weekend in Conakry and hope to be back at the beginning of next week,” said Hille Van Dam of Mercy Ships. Helicopters would make the round trip every two hours “as long as there are people who want to go,” Buckley said.
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