The ship, the Ionian Spirit, left Misrata last night
with 586 Nigeriens, 239 Libyans, 92 Nigerians, 26 Bangladeshis, 24
Filipinos, and 16 Pakistanis, the other evacuees hailing from
Egypt, Chad, Algeria and Ukraine.
Among the rescued are 55 Libyans and one Ukrainian civilian
war wounded, who received onboard medical assistance from
International Medical Corps staff. All will be transferred to
appropriate medical facilities upon arrival in
Benghazi.
The IOM-charted ship is also transporting the bodies of
award-winning photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros,
who were killed yesterday in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in
Misrata. The body of a Ukrainian doctor is also being repatriated
to Benghazi. As fighting in Misrata intensifies, more and more
civilians are desperately trying to leave the city. Among the
Libyans onboard the Ionian Spirit are some 100 Libyans who
were rescued from an overloaded tugboat that was trying to make its
way out of the harbour.
In Benghazi, IOM is preparing to provide assistance to a group
of some 900 migrants who were yesterday evacuated from Misrata
onboard a Turkish ship. The migrants from Niger, Egypt, Tunisia,
Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sudan were evacuated from
the harbour area, which remains under constant threat of mortar and
sniper fire. A fourth rotation is currently planned. The
IOM-chartered Red Star One is currently being loaded in Benghazi
with some 500 tons of food and medical supplies for the besieged
city.
To date, IOM has evacuated more than 3,100 people from Misrata, with funding from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Office (ECHO), from Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) and from the German Government. However, additional funding will be needed as increasing numbers of desperate stranded migrants and third country nationals are expected to make their way the harbour area in Misrata in the hope of being evacuated. It would also allow IOM to increase its onward transportation capacity from the Salum border area, which is overcrowded with some 5,000 evacuees currently squatting in the inhospitable no man’s land.
