The government said it had readied plans to evacuate Indians in Libya after reports pointed to a much greater effort to reach out to the many huddled at oil fields and in far flung towns.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said the Indian Ambassador in Libya was seeking permission for planes and ships to evacuate the 18,000 Indians, 13,000 around Tripoli and the remaining scattered in the east of the country.
And while India awaited permission, other countries had started evacuating their nationals. A tweeter informed that the Philippines, at a greater distance from Libya than India, had evacuated 100 of its citizens by the sea route to Malta, a distance covered by ferry in four hours.
Though the Foreign Office announced the addition of a few staff to the Embassy in Tripoli, there was dissatisfaction with the existing facilities. “There is no round-the-clock control room in Indian embassy in Tripoli as MEA [Ministry of External Affairs] claims. No one answers all the four telephone numbers,” said an angry tweeter.
“I'm Indian in Libya. Tried to call all numbers of Indian embassy in Tripoli. No one answered. Evacuation to be planned immediately,” suggested another. “What is the mobile number for the Libya Embassy? Land line is not answered. They couldn't reach office due to violence?” a two-day-old tweet wanted to know.
India was talking to European Union countries and Turkey for assistance in evacuating those in small towns and out of the way locations. Turkey, with 25,000 nationals working, has been most impressive with its evacuation while Greece is also being sought by other countries including China and India.
“I am at present in an accommodation with five other Indians. It is 350 km south of Benghazi or 1,000 km southeast of Tripoli,” said a tweeter. While thanking Ms. Rao for her efforts, another asked her to “also think about” Indians working on oil fields that are at a considerable distance from even small towns.
Though oil companies are trying to arrange flights to Tripoli, a greater Indian diplomatic presence might be required to cater for those reaching the Libyan capital. “Oil companies may arrange flight to Tripoli, but in Tripoli we may be alone. No food at airport. Heard 2 km queue at airport,” tweeted an Indian.
“Oil fields have their own accommodation, but from the accommodation to cities, roads are blocked,” complained another. But the situation in some other oil fields was far from secure. “Expats cramp up at one place to escape from army looters. All nationalities in state of fear,” said an Indian from an oil field camp.
According to reports, planes and ships from several countries had started to return with their nationals. Turkey brought back a large number of its citizens by the sea route while France and Russia got back their people by air. An American ferry and a U.K. warship in addition to charter flights were reported to be headed for Libya.
Ship diverted for help
J. Balajireports from New Delhi:
The Shipping Ministry has diverted a passenger vessel m.v. Scottish Prince, which was on its way to India from Greece , to the ports of Libya and Egypt to evacuate Indians wanting to return to their motherland.
Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan told The Hindu here on Wednesday that the ship, with a passenger capacity of 1000, would ferry Indians from the ports of the two countries to the nearby ports, from where they could take a flight and reach India. The ship would stay in the region as long as the evacuation operation was required.
Originally, the ship was heading for Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu to operate a ferry service between this port and Colombo as announced earlier by the government. Mr. Vasan said the MEA and the Indian Embassies in Cairo and Tripoli would take care of the evacuation operations.
