20,000 citizens safely evacuated from Libya
By Ellen Jia and Winny Wang |
February 28, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MORE than 20,000 Chinese citizens have now been evacuated from Libya.
By 10am yesterday, about 15,200 had arrived in third countries, about 1,400 were back in China and about 3,400 were on their way to the third countries, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Two China Eastern Airlines planes with 550 Chinese evacuees on board landed in Shanghai yesterday.
The first plane, carrying 272 passengers, including a 22-day-old baby, landed at Pudong International Airport at 2:20pm and the second, with 278 passengers, landed at Hongqiao International Airport at 4:15pm.
Zhang Jing, the baby's mother, said: "It feels so good to be back."
Another two China Eastern planes left Shanghai for Malta yesterday morning.
China is to send chartered planes daily until March 10 to bring its citizens home. Shanghai-based China Eastern is sending a total of 20 chartered planes to pick up more than 5,400 evacuees.
Chinese embassies in Greece, Tunisia and Egypt are taking steps to accommodate citizens who have arrived in those countries. About 7,200 people are on the Greek island of Crete, 5,900 on the island of Djerba in Tunisia, and others are in Egypt and Malta.
Some 5,100 people are being taken to safety on cruise ships chartered by China, with about 2,900 heading for Crete and 2,200 for Malta. Another 3,200 people are in Benghazi in Libya, waiting for a vessel to take them to Crete, Xinhua news agency reported.
Meanwhile, a group of 804 Chinese workers trapped in Libya, who used a microblog to seek help, have set out on their journey home.
Yesterday morning, the workers from the Changjiang Geotechnical Engineerng Corp arrived at Libya's Misurata Harbor after walking for 50 kilometers to wait for a ship to take them home.
"We're safe now. Thanks for all your help," their latest post on sina.com read.
The group's SOS message - "Motherland, please save us" - first appeared on China's equivalent of Twitter last Friday, and the information was quickly passed to evacuation headquarters who arranged for their evacuation.
The microblog was also used by a woman from Sichuan Province calling for the rescue of her father and four of his colleagues trapped in a Libyan desert. She said the group were about 300 kilometers from Tripoli, and so far hadn't managed to contact any Chinese organizations about being evacuated.
The five from Sichuan Honghua Petroleum Equipment Co said they did not dare to leave their residence.
"Please, someone to contact them and bring them back safely," the woman said in her post and asked people to retweet the information.
By 10am yesterday, about 15,200 had arrived in third countries, about 1,400 were back in China and about 3,400 were on their way to the third countries, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Two China Eastern Airlines planes with 550 Chinese evacuees on board landed in Shanghai yesterday.
The first plane, carrying 272 passengers, including a 22-day-old baby, landed at Pudong International Airport at 2:20pm and the second, with 278 passengers, landed at Hongqiao International Airport at 4:15pm.
Zhang Jing, the baby's mother, said: "It feels so good to be back."
Another two China Eastern planes left Shanghai for Malta yesterday morning.
China is to send chartered planes daily until March 10 to bring its citizens home. Shanghai-based China Eastern is sending a total of 20 chartered planes to pick up more than 5,400 evacuees.
Chinese embassies in Greece, Tunisia and Egypt are taking steps to accommodate citizens who have arrived in those countries. About 7,200 people are on the Greek island of Crete, 5,900 on the island of Djerba in Tunisia, and others are in Egypt and Malta.
Some 5,100 people are being taken to safety on cruise ships chartered by China, with about 2,900 heading for Crete and 2,200 for Malta. Another 3,200 people are in Benghazi in Libya, waiting for a vessel to take them to Crete, Xinhua news agency reported.
Meanwhile, a group of 804 Chinese workers trapped in Libya, who used a microblog to seek help, have set out on their journey home.
Yesterday morning, the workers from the Changjiang Geotechnical Engineerng Corp arrived at Libya's Misurata Harbor after walking for 50 kilometers to wait for a ship to take them home.
"We're safe now. Thanks for all your help," their latest post on sina.com read.
The group's SOS message - "Motherland, please save us" - first appeared on China's equivalent of Twitter last Friday, and the information was quickly passed to evacuation headquarters who arranged for their evacuation.
The microblog was also used by a woman from Sichuan Province calling for the rescue of her father and four of his colleagues trapped in a Libyan desert. She said the group were about 300 kilometers from Tripoli, and so far hadn't managed to contact any Chinese organizations about being evacuated.
The five from Sichuan Honghua Petroleum Equipment Co said they did not dare to leave their residence.
"Please, someone to contact them and bring them back safely," the woman said in her post and asked people to retweet the information.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
