530 Indians flown back from Libya, 88 cross over to Tunisia

While the first flight evacuated 291 Indians from Libya and brought them back here late last night, another Air India plane carrying over 235 people landed at the Terminal 2 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport here in the wee hours.

The two flights had left Libya yesterday after the authorities there allowed landing of two flights from India per day till March 10.

Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao received last night the first batch of passengers who were helped by Resident Commissioners of 10 states, including Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and officials of External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Ministries.

Apart from these, 15 corporate houses, which have their units in Libya, have been asked to help the arriving Indian nationals, the officials said, adding adequate number of buses and taxis have been made available."They are all in good health and cheer. The passengers included a large number of women and children," an official statement from the MEA said today.

The total number of Indians in Libya is estimated to be 18,000.Meanwhile, 88 Indians have crossed over by road from Libya to Ras Jedir in Tunisia and were received by officials of Embassy of India in Tunis, who have set up a camp there.

"All 88, who work for Punj Lloyd, have since been housed in 'Best Hotel' in Djerba (Tunisia), from where they are likely to be flown back to India soon. Another 170 persons are likely to reach Ras Jedir today," the statement said.

With fear still writ large on their faces, the Indians, many of whom had to go without food for several days since the outbreak of the revolt against the Gadaffi regime a fortnight back, gave an account of the tales of fear, horror and looting to mediapersons on their arrival.

Mohammed Sali, hailing from Kochi in Kerala and who has been living in Libya for the past 31 years, said people had to go without food and water for days as the situation turned from bad to worse in Libya.

The Ministry of External Affairs and Delhi International Airport Limited made arrangements for the arriving passengers in the in-operational Terminal 2.Two Naval ships INS Jalashwa and INS Mysore set sail from Mumbai yesterday morning for Libya. The journey time is about twelve days to that country.

Scotia Prince, another chartered ship, is already on its way to Libya) and will transport the Indians to a safer destination from where they will be airlifted, Shipping Minister G K Vasan had said in Chennai yesterday. The ship has a capacity of 1200 passengers.
Telephone facilities and railway reservation counters, apart from Balmer-Laurie counter for booking in Air India flight for onward journey, have been set up in the terminal.
In order to help the traumatised people, who are coming back from civil war-like situation, doctors are made available to counsel the evacuees.

Terminal 2 was reactivated in just 24 hours by DIAL (Delhi International Airport) for the returnees from Libya and will be operational exclusively for handling all future dedicated flights, the MEA said.

"All concerned Ministries, Central Agencies, and State Governments have worked closely to put the reception arrangements in place, including the security agencies, BCAS (Bureau Civil Aviation Security) and CISF (Central Industrial Security Force)," it said.