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1,200 Filipinos sail to safety on luxury ship

By Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:12:00 03/03/2011





MANILA, Philippines — The first sea rescue organized by the Philippine government for Filipinos in violence-torn Libya has left the port of Benghazi aboard a chartered luxury liner with 1,200 Filipinos aboard traveling in style, officials said.

Overland, at the Tunisia border, Filipinos joined tens of thousands of foreign workers scrambling to flee in appalling conditions. One Filipino who arrived in Manila Wednesday described the situation at the Libya-Tunisia crossing as “inhuman.”

The UN refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration have appealed for aid to deal with a “humanitarian crisis” at the Ras Adjir border in Tunisia where some 40,000 workers from various countries had converged from the besieged Libyan capital of Tripoli.

“We can see acres of people waiting to cross the border. Many have been waiting for three to four days in the freezing cold, with no shelter or food,” said UN worker Ayman Gharaibeh. “This seems to be getting worse by the day.”

The Ionian Queen chartered by the Philippine government departed at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (2:30 a.m. Wednesday Manila time) with 1,200 Filipino evacuees bound for the Greek island of Crete, or around 500 less than its intended number of passengers, said Department of Labor and Employment spokesperson Nicon Fameronag.

Those who remained were mostly medical workers from the eastern Libyan town of Ajdabiya. “Maybe they saw that it was safe for them and so they decided to stay,” Fameronag said.

A statement issued by Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario Wednesday said that “conditions have somewhat normalized in Benghazi,” which has fallen under rebel control. “Banks and shops have opened and police are back in the streets.”

Fameronag said hundreds of Filipinos continued to slip out of Libya overland through its borders with Egypt and Tunisia.

“The ferry boarding was orderly. Mothers with children boarded first, followed by some passengers who were sick,” Fameronag said.

“It’s a luxury ferry and the food was free. They’re sailing to Heraklion in Crete, where Philippine Embassy and labor officials are going to take care of them, including their accommodation and food,” he said.

“From there, they will go to Athens from where they will be booked for various flights home,” he added.


More at: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20110303-323178/1200-Filipinos-sail-to-safety-on-luxury-ship




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