Nearly 1,200 migrants stranded in Misrata since the start of the
Libyan crisis two months ago have been evacuated on an
IOM-chartered boat from the port city and are now on their way to
Benghazi.

Among those on the boat are women, children and the elderly. The
migrants are all very weak and dehydrated with many needing medical
attention being provided by medical non-government organizations
(NGOs) on board the ship which have set up a small hospital on
deck.

The evacuated migrants represent many nationalities, the
majority of them Bangladeshis and Egyptians. Among the others are
Indians, Iraqis, Pakistani, Sudanese, Eritreans, Tunisians, an
Algerian, Nigerien and Dutch.

With not enough space on the boat to evacuate everyone at once,
priority was given to those clearly vulnerable and those who had
been stranded at the port the longest.

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The migrants were among the 8,300 migrants identified by IOM who
have been living in the open around the port of Misrata without
shelter, adequate food, access to clean water or medical care.

Their condition has been of major concern to IOM which has been
trying to evacuate the thousands of migrants from the city for
several weeks but which has been hampered by lack of funds and
security issues.

Nevertheless, the critical condition in which many of the
migrants are now in had made it imperative that a rescue mission
was carried out without further delay. Funding from the European
Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Office (ECHO)
provided the means to carry out the mission with IOM staff also
highlighting the incredible support given to them by the boat's
captain, crew and the company.

A second journey will be made to Misrata immediately after the
1182 migrants on the IOM-chartered Ionian Spirit arrive safely in
Benghazi later tonight.

IOM staff in Benghazi, together with the Libyan Red Crescent
will be on standby to disembark the migrants and provide continued
medical care and escort.

However, unless funding materialises immediately for IOM
evacuation operations, the Organization will not be able to rescue
any more of the migrants from the fighting in Misrata.

"This is a terrible situation. The plight of the migrants in
Misrata, Tripoli, Sabah and many other Libyan towns and cities,
stranded without the means to survive is the humanitarian crisis in
the region. They are the forgotten victims of the crisis and
shouldn't be," says IOM's Regional Representative for the Middle
East, Pasquale Lupoli in Cairo.

The IOM-chartered boat had also been carrying at least 400 tons
of humanitarian aid for the people of Misrata donated by Libyan
individuals, business and national and international
non-governmental organizations.

The aid was off-loaded soon after the boat docked on Thursday
night, allowing IOM to embark the migrants quickly and set sail for
Benghazi in the early hours of Friday morning.

In the meantime, IOM has also been made aware of nearly 30,000
Chadians stranded in the Libyan town of Gatroun, about 1,000 kms
from the Chadian border. Among them are many families with children
and are in urgent need of humanitarian and evacuation
assistance.

According to the Chadian government, there are still about
275,000 Chadians inside Libya.

For further information, please contact:

Jemini Pandya

IOM Geneva

Tel: +41 22 717 9486

       +41 79 217 3374

E-mail: "mailto:jpandya@iom.int">jpandya@iom.int

or

Jumbe Omari Jumbe

Tel: +41 22 717 9405

       +41 79 812 7734

E-mail; "mailto:jjumbe@iom.int">jjumbe@iom.int