Fourth IOM-Chartered Evacuation Ship to Leave Benghazi for Misrata
A fourth IOM-chartered ship – the Red Star One
– is expected to leave Benghazi within the next hour to
evacuate stranded migrant workers and wounded civilians from
Libya's besieged third city of Misrata.
The latest voyage, which will also bring 160 tons of food,
medical supplies, tents and mattresses to residents trapped in the
city by the fighting, follows three earlier evacuations of over
3,100 people from Misrata on another IOM-chartered vessel - the
Ionian Spirit.
Yesterday Ireland joined the European Commission's Humanitarian
Aid and Civil Protection Office (ECHO), the US State Department's
Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), Britain's
Department for International Development (DFID) and Germany to fund
the evacuations, as fighting intensified in the city.
"Given the increasing number of casualties in Misrata and the
thousands of lives that are in danger we felt a responsibility to
act. Colonel Gadaffi's forces have agreed to allow ships into the
port to evacuate civilians and we have requested that the IOM
undertake an emergency operation on our behalf," said Irish Foreign
Minister Eamon Gilmore.
Links
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target="_blank" title="">Report: One Month into IOM's
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"">Libya Migration Crisis Website
Evacuees from Misrata, which has been the scene of fighting
between Colonel Gadaffi's troops and rebels for over two months,
have included 21 nationalities, including Egyptians, Bangladeshis,
Pakistanis, Indians, Dutch, Eritreans, Iraqis, Filipinos,
Ghanaians, Nigerians, Niger nationals, Chadians, Algerians,
Sudanese, Tunisians and Ukrainians, as well as wounded Libyans.
The Ionian Spirit, which docked in Benghazi last night
on its final evacuation voyage, also transported the bodies of
photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, who were
killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack.
The Red Star One, which, like the Ionian
Spirit, will sail with a specialized medical team of 11 on
board to care for wounded evacuees.
As more evacuees arrive in Benghazi from Misrata, IOM faces an
additional funding and logistical challenge in moving them by road
to the Egyptian border at Sallum and eventually on to their final
countries of destination on commercial and charter flights.
Some 225,000 people have crossed from Libya into Egypt since
late February and over 2,500 a day are still coming. Some 5,000
migrants are still camped out in poor conditions in the border
compound at Sallum, most of them waiting for travel documents from
their respective embassies and onward flights arranged by IOM to
help them to get home.
"IOM has already helped nearly 26,000 migrant workers to return
home from Egypt, and nearly 90,000 from Tunisia, but may be faced
with a funding crunch at any point, as migrants continue to pour
out of Libya to escape the fighting," says IOM Director of
Operations Mohammed Abdiker.
For further information, please
contact:
Jean Philippe Chauzy
IOM Geneva
Tel: + 41 22 717 9361
+ 41 79 285 4366
E-mail:
"mailto:jpchauzy@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"mailto:jpchauzy@iom.int">jpchauzy@iom.int