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| Filipinos repatriated from Libya at the Manila International Airport yesterday |
A total of 168 Filipinos have so far arrived home, including a group of hotel and construction workers who landed in the capital Manila early yesterday, the foreign department said in a statement.
Those who had arrived were the lucky ones among an estimated 26,000-strong Filipino expatriate workforce in Libya. They were able to escape thanks to an evacuation organised by their employers.
But a support group for overseas Filipino workers, Migrante International, said that many others remained trapped in the oil-rich country, with leader Moamer Kadhafi refusing to step down in the face of an uprising.
The foreign department said it was on “full relocation and repatriation mode” adding that Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario arrived in the capital of Tunisia Saturday to help a group of Filipinos who had crossed the border.
Migrante said that some 47 Filipino workers from the Wafa gas and oil field southeast of Tripoli joined a seven-hour exodus through the desert in a bid to reach Algeria over the weekend but were refused entry by border guards.
“They remain trapped at the border as of this posting,” Migrante said, adding that workers from other countries had been allowed access and calling on Filipino diplomats to try to reach the group.
President Benigno Aquino last week admitted that evacuation efforts were severely limited by logistical problems.
An estimated 9mn Filipinos work and live abroad, and their remittances have traditionally kept the economy afloat.
A group of 449 Thais arrived at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport yesterday from riot-torn Libya where foreign labourers have fallen victim to looting, media reports said.
On Saturday the first batch of 49 workers from Libya arrived in Bangkok with tales of being robbed by looters in and around Tripoli where street battles have raged between protesters and troops still loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Private companies arranged for the evacuation of more than 1,000 Thais from Tripoli last week by road to Tunisia. Wanchai Panpin, who returned to Bangkok Saturday, complained that their bus was stopped by looters who stole the Thais’ money, valuables and mobile phones.
Thais who were based in labour camps near Tripoli have complained of looters invading the camps and stealing food and valuables, leaving them with “just the shirts on our backs.”
There were altogether about 23,600 Thai nationals working in Libya when anti-government demonstrations flared.
Of the Thais based in Libya, about 9,000 were working in Benghazi and Tripoli. Southern Libya has been relatively unaffected by the violence.
The Thai government has launched an evacuation plan to remove all its nationals from the main trouble spots to nearby countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Italy.
“For Thais stranded in Tripoli we will evacuate them by ship as soon as possible,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakd said.
Thailand has chartered an Italian ship that was scheduled to evacuate 2,000 workers from Tripoli to Tunisia yesterday and another 2,000 to Italy today.
“From Tunisia and Italy they will be coming back to Thailand by charter flights,” Thani said.
For the remaining 4,000-5,000 still in Tripoli, the Thai government has set up a camp in southern Libya to provide temporary sanctuary for the labourers, some of whom “just want to wait it out somewhere and go back to work when things quiet down,” Thani said.
Nearly 16,000 Chinese citizens were evacuated from Libya till Saturday afternoon, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Among them, about 7,000 people have arrived the third countries, about 700 people were back to China and about 8,300 people were on the way to the third countries.
The Ministry said Chinese embassies in Greece, Tunisia and Egypt were endeavouring to well accommodate the 7,000 people who arrived in those countries, among which, about 4,300 people were in the Crete Island of Greece, 2,900 people were in the Island of Djerba in Tunisia, and some were in Egypt, according to Chinese (Xinhua) news agency.
Roughly 5,100 people were being evacuated through large cruise ships chartered by China, among which, about 2,900 people were going to the Crete Island and 2,200 people were for Malta. Another 3,200 people were in Libya’s Benghazi, waiting for a vessel to take them to the Crete Island.
The Ministry said relevant departments of the Chinese government and Chinese embassies are coordinating chartered planes and commercial flights to send those temporarily accommodated people back to China as soon as possible.