Life Saving Evacuations from Besieged City of Misrata Continue As Fighting Intensifies
A third IOM-chartered ship transporting more than 1,000 migrant
evacuees from the besieged city of Misrata is expected to dock
later today in the Eastern city of Benghazi.
The ship, the Ionian Spirit, left Misrata last night with 586
Nigeriens, 239 Libyans, 92 Nigerians, 26 Bangladeshis, 24
Filipinos, and 16 Pakistanis, the other evacuees hailing from
Egypt, Chad, Algeria and Ukraine.
Among the rescued are 55 Libyans and one Ukrainian civilian war
wounded, who received onboard medical assistance from International
Medical Corps staff. All will be transferred to appropriate medical
facilities upon arrival in Benghazi.
The IOM-charted ship is also transporting the bodies of
award-winning photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros,
who were killed yesterday in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in
Misrata. The body of a Ukrainian doctor is also being repatriated
to Benghazi.
As fighting in Misrata intensifies, more and more civilians are
desperately trying to leave the city. Among the Libyans onboard the
Ionian Spirit are some 100 Libyans who were rescued from an
overloaded tugboat that was trying to make its way out of the
harbour.
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"">Libya Migration Crisis Website
In Benghazi, IOM is preparing to provide assistance to a group
of some 900 migrants who were yesterday evacuated from Misrata
onboard a Turkish ship. The migrants from Niger, Egypt, Tunisia,
Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sudan were evacuated from
the harbour area, which remains under constant threat of mortar and
sniper fire.
A fourth rotation is currently planned. The IOM-chartered Red
Star One is currently being loaded in Benghazi with some 500 tons
of food and medical supplies for the besieged city.
To date, IOM has evacuated more than 3,100 people from Misrata,
with funding from the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and
Civil Protection Office (ECHO), the US State Department's Bureau of
Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), from Britain's Department
for International Development (DFID) and from the German
Government.
However, additional funding will be needed as increasing numbers
of desperate stranded migrants and third country nationals are
expected to make their way the harbour area in Misrata in the hope
of being evacuated.
It would also allow IOM to increase its onward transportation
capacity from the Salum border area, which is overcrowded with some
5,000 evacuees currently squatting in the inhospitable no man's
land.
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">jpchauzy@iom.int
or
Jumbe Omari Jumbe
Tel: + 41 22 717 9405
+ 41 79 812 7734
E-mail:
"mailto:jjumbe@iom.int">jjumbe@iom.int