1400 more Indians pulled out of Libya
Around 1400 Indians have been flown out of strife-torn Libya in the preceding 24 hours, which takes the total number of persons evacuated so far to over 12,000.
MV Red Star One returned to Malta from Misurata (Libya) yesterday morning with all the 301 Indians (desirous of leaving Libya) and 29 foreign nationals, on board. The passengers returned to India last night, on special Jet Air (140 pax) and Kingfisher (190 pax) flights. All our nationals have thus been brought back from Malta.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said MV Red Star One would now set sail for Sirte (Libya) tomorrow and reach its destination in 24 hours.
"It is expected to evacuate 600 persons to Malta. Presently we have 1600 of our nationals in Sirte, many of who may be heading for Tripoli by road, for being air lifted from there," the MEA added.
A special chartered Fly Dubai flight with the last batch of 155 persons from Dzerba (Tunisia) returned to India this morning. In all 1120 Indians had crossed over to Tunisia who have since returned home safely.
The MEA further said MV Scotia Prince is on its way back to Alexandria with 972 persons from Benghazi (Libya) on board.
"Its arrival has been delayed due to some engine trouble and is now expected to reach in the evening of March 8. All passengers will be flown back to India on 3 Egypt Air and one IL 76 flights, on March 9," the MEA release added.
All 67 Indian nationals who had crossed over to Salloum (Egypt) reached Mumbai today morning by Gulf Air commercial flight. Including the 16 who had similarly crossed over yesterday, our Mission in Cairo has already assisted 483 persons at the border post.
Naval vessels INS JALASHWA and INS MYSORE are headed for Tripoli and expected to reach on March 10. They will carry any remaining Indian nationals still in Tripoli on that day.
Source: ANI
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