Evacuation of Stranded Migrants and Wounded Civilians from Besieged Libyan City Continues
The IOM-chartered ship – the Red Star One –
sailed out of the Eastern Libyan city of Benghazi yesterday evening
and is due to arrive later his morning in the war-torn city of
Misrata to evacuate up to a thousand stranded migrants and wounded
civilians.
Prior to departure, the ship was loaded with 160 tons of food
and medical supplies, including two new ambulances to help in the
transportation of casualties to Misrata's Ras Touba hospital and
from the hospital to the port area for medical evacuation.
A specialized medical team of eleven, including personnel form
the International Medical Corps, is on board the Red Star
One to take care of up to 25 war-wounded, including four
patients requiring intensive care.
In the previous four evacuations from Misrata, IOM chartered
vessels have evacuated 4,577 persons. The vast majority are
stranded migrant workers from Niger, Bangladesh, Ghana, Nigeria,
Egypt and others, but also 120 Libyan families in need of medical
assistance.
The IOM chartered boats have also delivered more than 1,470 tons
of urgently needed food, water, medical supplies, hygiene kits,
non-food items and six ambulances, donated for the residents of
Misrata by Libya's private sector, individuals, Libyan Appeal Team,
UAE Red Crescent Society, the Government of Qatar, and local and
international NGOs.
Links
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target="_blank" title="">Report: One Month into IOM's
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"">Libya Migration Crisis Website
Complementing the efforts of the Libyan and Turkish Red
Crescents and the International Committee of the Red Cross, IOM
staff have provided daily meals to close to 12,000 migrants in the
transit centre in Benghazi.
From Benghazi, IOM provides onward land transportation to the
Egyptian border at Sallum. Since 3 March IOM has assisted more than
7,600 migrants to reach Sallum and from there to continue their
journey to their countries of origin.
IOM's humanitarian evacuation programme out of Misrata is funded
by the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civilian
Protection Office (ECHO), Britain's Department for International
Development (DFID), Germany, Ireland and Australia.
As of 24 April, more than 608,000 migrants from more than 27
countries had fled Libya and crossed into Tunisia, Egypt, Niger,
Algeria, Chad, and Sudan; some of them put their lives in great
danger to reach the shores of Italy and Malta.
In Libya, IOM continues to assist in the evacuation by road of
thousands of stranded Sudanese, Egyptian and Nigerien migrants from
the capital Tripoli to the Tunisian border.
With more than 12,000 Chadians having recently returned to Chad
through the Libyan-Chadian border, IOM is focusing its activities
on the border towns of Faya-Largeau and Kalait.
An IOM registration and transit centre with a capacity to
accommodate some 750 persons was opened on 23 April in
Faya-Largeau, where many are still waiting for onward
transportation assistance.
The Organization is currently organizing 10 charter flights from
Faya-Largeau to the capital N'Djamena to assist weak and vulnerable
returnees who cannot be transported by road.
To date, the Organization has provided onward assistance to more
than 3,500 returnees to various destinations in Chad.
IOM has appealed for USD 160 million dollars for its response to
the Libyan crisis with much of the funding to provide evacuation
assistance from both inside and outside Libya. To date, the
Organization has received close to USD 68 million, which have been
spent on operations that have helped more than 117,000 migrants
return to their home countries and evacuate many more from inside
Libya to Egypt and Tunisia.
For more information, please contact:
Jean-Philippe Chauzy
IOM Geneva
Tel: + 41 79 285 43 66
E-mail:
"mailto:jpchauzy@iom.int">jpchauzy@iom.int