3 Bangladeshis die in Libya evacuation

Mon Mar 7, 2011

At least three Bangladeshi nationals have died and 11 others have gone missing as they fled from a ship transporting them from Libya to Greece.

The Cypriot-flagged ship was carrying 1,280 evacuees, most of them from Bangladesh, to the island of Crete in Greece on Sunday, AFP reported.

"Forty-nine people left the ship" while it was preparing to dock in Souda Bay. "They used a rope to climb down," local coast guard chief Antonis Daskalakis said.

Two of the Bangladeshi nationals drowned at sea and the third died on the way to a hospital, the merchant marine ministry said in a statement.

Coast guard vessels and a rescue helicopter were dispatched to search for the missing, Greece's Ministry of Maritime Affairs said.

It is speculated that the passengers left the ship stealthily because they did not have official papers and feared they would be sent back to Bangladesh.

From the beginning of unrest, the United States, European countries and some Asian countries, including China sent warships and planes to Libya to evacuate thousands of nationals.

However, Bangladesh and African countries have not been able to save their people from the mounting unrest in Libya.

Libyan migration officials say about 2.5 million foreigners, including one million Egyptians, worked in Libya, mostly in the eastern city of Benghazi, before the revolution.

UN refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said on Saturday that most of migrant workers in Benghazi have been evacuated and her agency is gearing up efforts to get out 8,000 others, most of whom are from Bangladesh, India and Sudan.

The influx of people to Libya-Tunisia border has been increasing by thousands every day to reach over 100,000 refugees, creating a humanitarian crisis.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168600.html.