Evacuation from Libya is far from over, efforts continue

The evacuation from Libya is far from over. Hundreds if not thousands of foreigners are still in the country. Some 33 Maltese, including Bishop Sylvester Magro are refusing to flee the country to a safer place. The British Foreign Office said it believed there were around 500 British nationals still in Libya. Britain announced the closure of its embassy in Tripoli just after the last charter aircraft evacuating Britons took off from the Libyan capital, carrying about 100 people, half of them being British citizens.

HMS Cumberland was on its way back to Benghazi to evacuate any remaining Britons. Navy destroyer, HMS York, is in Malta and would be available to help with the evacuation effort.

China had evacuated almost 16,000 of its citizens by Saturday, The Foreign Ministry was quoted saying by Xinhua news agency. There are 75 Chinese companies working in Libya.

Reuters reported that 28 Croatian workers have left Benghazi on an Italian military ship. A plane from Zagreb landed in Tripoli and Croatian officials were trying to reach the remaining workers at three different sites. There are around 125 Croat workers still in Libya.

The Greek passenger ship Nisos Rodos with 390 evacuees on board, mainly Brazilians and Filipinos but also Thai, Portugese, Dutch and Britons, docked at the port of Piraeus today. Two more ships, the Hellenic Spirit and the Olympic Champion, transferred more than 4,000 Chinese and other nationals to the Greek port of Heraklion in Crete. Russians, Romanians, Ukrainians and Italians were also among on board Greek ships.

The German government sent three military ships to help in the evacuation, however around 150 German nationals is still in Libya. A German military aircraft C-160 took Germans and 19 Greeks and Cypriots out of Libya.

More than 530 Indian nationals arrived from Tripoli at New Delhi International airport on two Air India flights on Sunday, the Foreign Ministry said. A further 88 Indian nationals traveled by land across the Tunisian border late Saturday and a further 170 are expected to cross Sunday, the ministry said.

India also chartered two passenger ships with a total capacity of 2,800 and is sending two navy ships from Mumbai to assist with the evacuation. There were 18,000 Indians in Libya, mostly in the oil, construction and health sectors.
All Irish nationals wishing to leave Benghazi have left by sea, according to a statement Friday by Ireland's Foreign Ministry. A small number of citizens remain in desert areas who are mostly employees of foreign companies. The Ministry is working with the companies and EU partners to ensure that Irish nationals are included in evacuation arrangements.

The Dutch foreign affairs ministry said on Sunday that seven Dutch citizens took off from Jakhira in Libya onboard a British C130 military aircraft that also carried other nationals and landed in Malta last night. Three more Dutch nationals were transferred to the Greek island of Crete on German flights, it added. According to Dutch government figures, at least six more Dutch citizens who wish to leave Libya were still in the country.

Romania's Foreign Ministry said Saturday 270 citizens had been evacuated from Libya. Another 50 are being evacuated by air and 44 more by sea.

South Africa said Thursday it was arranging for a flight to evacuate some embassy staff and 30-40 nationals from Libya.


Malta operations centre

A chartered plane carrying about 200 nationals took off from Tripoli Friday for Cairo and another is scheduled, the Foreign Ministry said. A total of 1,300 South Koreans were in Libya working for construction companies.
A Spanish armed forces plane carrying 124 people evacuated from Tripoli, landed in Madrid Friday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. The evacuees included 40 Spaniards as well as Mexican, British, Canadian and Portuguese nationals. Spain is planning the evacuation of a small number of Spaniards from outside Tripoli, the spokesman said.
Syria has sent vessels to pick up Syrian nationals from different areas in Libya, in addition to continuing its flights to Tripoli. Minister of Transport Yarub Badr said two ships have been sent so far.

Tunisia had at least 30,000 nationals in Libya and 7,000 have been able to leave. Tunisia sent five flights to Libya Wednesday and two before that. Tunisia has scheduled a ferry to travel to Benghazi.
Turkish government evacuated 14,776 people, including 579 foreigners.