AMERICANS FLEE JAKARTA BY THOUSANDS; U.S. COMPANIES EVACUATE WORKERS IN WAKE OF RIOTING GRIPPING CAPITAL.

Byline: Jocelyn Gecker Associated Press 

American companies doing business in Indonesia told their employees to pack, put them on buses and sped them to Jakarta's airports Friday, getting them to safety after four days of deadly rioting.

Oil powerhouses like Mobil, Atlantic Richfield and Conoco said they had begun airlifting employees out of the capital, as did Citicorp, Merrill Lynch and other financial giants.

General Motors halted its automaking operations in Bekasi, just outside Jakarta, and evacuated its expatriate employees and their families.

The State Department told U.S. citizens to get out of Indonesia's two major cities, Jakarta and Surabaya, ``as soon as possible.'' It estimated that at least 8,000 Americans live in Indonesia, mostly in Jakarta.

Commercial airlines were besieged by people trying to flee Jakarta. In response, the U.S. Embassy chartered two Boeing 747s to fly Americans to Singapore or Bangkok early today. All nonessential U.S. Embassy staffers and their families were being evacuated.

Many companies gave employees and their families one-way tickets to nearby foreign cities and told local employees to stay home.

Jakarta's downtown business district - which has been spared from the looters because of a heavy police presence - was eerily quiet Friday. Midday phone calls to the offices of McDonald's and Freeport-McMoRan were answered only by recordings.

A few top executives went to work, ``but if you can get someone on the phone, you'll hear that they're on their way out,'' said Joe Bartlett of the American Chamber of Commerce, who visited a few U.S. companies to see how they are coping.

The buses Friday had to weave their way around smashed traffic lights, debris on the street, armored personnel vehicles and patrolling soldiers. Some drove by looters who were picking clean those shopping malls that had not been burned.

Many evacuees left from Halim Airport, the city's secondary airport, used mainly by the military.

Jakarta's International Airport has been overrun since Thursday by throngs of fleeing Chinese, the targets of violent rioters who have burned and looted homes and businesses around the city. Its departure terminal was overflowing Friday, but its arrival hall was virtually empty.

One American who was leaving described the last 24 hours as chaos.

``We're just looking to get to a safer spot,'' said Nancy Carmack of Grand Junction, Colo., whose husband works for an international oil tools company.

Carmack said she and her two children packed their bags in less than an hour after the company called to say their flight to Singapore had been secured.

``It's kind of exciting,'' said 18-year-old Clayton Carmack, who watched from his bedroom window Thursday as flames and black smoke from burning homes and businesses filled the skyline. ``But it's probably best to watch it from a TV.''

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3 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) A motorcyclist, a bicyclist and pedestrians pass by burning vehicles along the roadside in Jakarta.

Juanito Holandez/Knight Ridder/Tribune Photo Service

(2--Color) An Indonesian soldier relaxes on a bench with a figure of Ronald McDonald as he guards a ransacked McDonald's restaurant in Jakarta.

Firdia Lisnawati/Associated Press

(3) From left, Clayton Carmack, 18, his sister, Kelsey, 16, Chris French of Scotland, and the teens' mother, Nancy Carmack, wait at Halim Airport in Jakarta for information on flights out.

Rick Rycroft/Associated Press