Foreign and Military Affairs

3,300 more Chinese evacuated from Libya arrive in Greece

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-28 01:34

HERAKLION - Two Greek ferries carrying over 4,200 evacuees from Libya to Greece, including 3,300 Chinese nationals, docked in the port of Heraklion in the southern island of Crete Sunday.

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Chartered liners "Hellenic Spirit" and "Olympic Champion" returned to Heraklion with over 2,100 people on board each, from Benghazi port in Libya.

Among evacuees this time were approximately 900 citizens of Bangladesh and Vietnam, who were working for Chinese companies in Libya.

The same ships had transferred the first Chinese nationals to safety to Greece on Thursday and sailed again to Benghazi to pick up more stranded people.

Since the launch of the evacuation operation of Chinese nationals by the Chinese Embassy through chartered Greek ships, over 10,000 Chinese have arrived at Crete, where they are accommodated in local hotels before they return home on chartered flights.

The first two planes with over 500 passengers took off from Crete to China Saturday and four more flights were scheduled to leave the Greek island on Sunday.