Foreigners leave as nuke warnings mount

TOKYO - Airline tickets sold out on Thursday and firms hired private jets to move staff out as foreign governments told their nationals to get out of Tokyo, fearing the nuclear crisis could escalate.

The United States, Australia and several European nations urged their citizens in the capital and the quake-hit area in the northeast of the country to leave, but some people were trying to get out of Japan altogether.

The US State Department chartered flights for Americans wishing to flee and authorized its embassy staff and their families to leave the country, after US nuclear regulators questioned safety measures taken by the Japanese.