07:11 AM EDT on Monday, July 17, 2006

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- A pair of Kentucky college students are safe after making it out of war-torn Beirut.

Ryan Burnette and Sarah Weatherbee of Lexington were studying Arabic Language and Culture at the Lebanese-American University in Beirut with over 100 other American college students when hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah escalated late last week.

Ryan Burnette was airlifted by a U-S. military helicopter to Cyprus yesterday while Weatherbee was taken to Byblos in northern Lebanon.

Burnette—who graduated from Georgetown College in the spring and is heading to the University of Kentucky in the fall—spoke briefly with his parents after landing in Cyprus, telling them he was all right and needed money.

Weatherbee, who is a junior at Kentucky, said in an e-mail that she was fortunate to escape.

The students are not sure when they will be able to return home.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)