Britain Royal Navy HMS Cumberland carrying British citizens evacuating from Benghazi, arrives at the harbor in Valletta, Malta, Saturday, Feb. 26,...
(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Britain Royal Navy HMS Cumberland carrying British citizens evacuating from Benghazi, arrives at the harbor in Valletta, Malta, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011.
ATHENS, Greece — Thousands of evacuees from strife-torn Libya reached ports across the Mediterranean on Saturday, with thousands more still scrambling to flee the North African nation by sea, air or land.
More than 2,800 Chinese workers landed in Heraklion on the Greek island of Crete aboard a Greek ship Saturday. Further to the west, another 2,200 Chinese arrived in Valletta, the capital of Malta, on a ship from the eastern Libyan port of Benghazi. Hours earlier, in the dark of night, a U.S-chartered ferry dropped off over 300 passengers in Valletta after a voyage from Tripoli, the Libyan capital.
The sheer numbers of foreigners leaving Libya as Moammar Gadhafi's regime attacks anti-government protesters has been staggering. As of Saturday, at least 16,000 Chinese workers and 10,000 Turks had been evacuated, most working in the construction and oil industries.
In addition, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council that some 22,000 people have fled across the Libyan border to Tunisia and another 15,000 crossed the border to Egypt.
"There are widespread reports of refugees being harassed and threatened with guns and knives," Ban said, adding that many people who managed to cross the border said their trip was "terrifying."
At the harbor in Valletta, women holding babies and other passengers walked down a ramp to solid land after 8-hour voyage across the choppy Mediterranean Sea.
"Oh, it was a long ordeal. We are glad it's over," said evacuee Sara Ali, a 30-year-old with dual Libyan-American citizenship. "We're just really tired and really happy to be out and safe."
The passengers had been stuck aboard the catamaran since Wednesday, but strong winds and high seas had prevented the ferry from leaving the Libyan capital of Tripoli for three days.
"It was pretty uncomfortable just because of the delay," said Lucile Usielmerazcerna, an evacuee from Santa Cruz, California. "It was really rough waters coming over here, also having to stay in the dock for 2 or 3 days."
The Chinese landing in Malta were expected to head to the airport for flights home. In Crete, the Chinese government chartered four ferries and 11 hotels, and was having special flights to China later Saturday aboard two Air China jumbo jets.