Society

Ship carrying Chinese evacuees arrives Malta

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-26 18:58

GRAND HARBOR, Malta - A cruise ship chartered by the Chinese embassy in Malta docked at the Grand Harbor in Valletta, capital of Malta, on Saturday.

Related readings:  Chinese evacuees arrive on island of Crete  275 Libya evacuees fly back to China from Cairo  Over 2,200 Chinese evacuees set to leave Libya  Another 227 Libya evacuees flown back to Beijing

The Chinese embassy said the ship carried 2,216 Chinese nationals evacuated from Libya in addition to dozens of citizens of other countries.

The vessel, which was the first Maltese one chartered by the Chinese government, left Libya's Benghazi on Friday, Fu Zhimin, political counselor at the Chinese embassy, told Xinhua.

China's Eastern Airlines will send eight chartered flights in the coming days to evacuate the Chinese from Malta, and the first two planes will arrive in the Mediterranean island nation on Saturday afternoon, according to the Chinese embassy.