AFP/Tripoli
Thousands of foreign workers yesterday fled Libya by air, land and sea in a vast exodus from the oil-rich North African state as terrified residents of Tripoli braced for a bloody showdown between Muammar Gaddafi’s forces and rebels wanting to overthrow him.
A British warship and a Chinese-chartered ferry docked in the Mediterranean island of Malta loaded with 2,500 people from Libya’s vast multinational workforce including domestic helpers, construction workers and oil executives.
Meanwhile thousands of Egyptian migrant workers continued to stream across Libya’s land border with Tunisia despite warnings from humanitarian organisations that emergency supplies and housing have run out.
Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Nigeria, the Philippines and South Korea are among the countries that have or had large communities in Libya - drawn by an oil boom that has brought billions of dollars in investments.
In Bangladesh, hundreds of angry relatives of workers stranded in Libya blocked a key highway northeast of the capital Dhaka, accusing the government of dragging its heels in rescuing the estimated 60,000 Bangladeshis there.
The impoverished South Asian country has said it is seeking to ensure the safety of its citizens, most of them low-paid contract workers in the construction industry, but it has no immediate plans to bring them home.
Many evacuations have had to be carried out in dramatic weather conditions. Britain’s HMS Cumberland frigate left the rebel-held port of Benghazi in eastern Libya on Thursday carrying 207 passengers but was forced to travel at a reduced speed because of the high waves in the Mediterranean.
Richard Weeks, a 64-year-old British manager on the ship that arrived in Malta yesterday, told how he was robbed during the unrest. “They were armed with knives and knew they could take what they wanted, so it was better to let them get on with it,” he said.
A ferry that docked in Malta later Saturday carried 2,216 Chinese nationals also from Benghazi, who will remain on board until planes come to pick them up.
Nearly 3,000 Chinese also landed yesterday on the Greek island of Crete, as China said 16,000 of its 33,000 citizens have been evacuated so far.
Some 500 people from 25 countries also boarded two Turkish army vessels in Libya, together with about 1,200 Turks, officials in Ankara said.
India said two specially chartered planes had left for Tripoli to begin the evacuation of some 18,000 Indians in the strife-torn country.
Meanwhile, a group of dozens of Filipinos out of an estimated 26,000 in Libya including domestic helpers and white-collar workers arrived in Manila.
A US-chartered ferry carrying hundreds of people from Tripoli including American diplomats docked in Malta on Friday after braving 6m waves, with at least two evacuees taken away on stretchers by paramedics.
The US earlier announced the closure of its embassy in Tripoli.
A second privately chartered ferry from Libya with hundreds of evacuees on board arrived in Malta on Friday, along with two German warships set to take away German citizens airlifted out of Libya earlier this week.
Thousands of Egyptian migrant workers have also crossed into Tunisia. “The Egyptian consulate in Tunis told us that the Egyptians would organise 17 flights today” to bring their citizens back, said Monji Slim, the local Red Crescent representative, at the Tunisia-Libya border.
The International Organisation of Migration in Geneva says tens of thousands have fled across the border into Tunisia and is appealing for millions of dollars in international aid to help cope with the emergency.
Hundreds of foreigners including Egyptians, Iraqis and Syrians have also been fleeing from Libya into Algeria through the Sahara Desert.
