VietNamNet Bridge – “Over 6000 Vietnamese in Libya have been evacuated to the third countries, 2800 of them have arrived home. At this moment, there are no reports about injuries of Vietnamese workers in Libya,” said Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan on March 2.

 

318 Vietnamese return home from Libya on hired flight

 

The Minister said that by March 2 afternoon, 6,196 Vietnamese workers left Libya. Around 2800 people arrived in Vietnam by the end of March 2. Of more than 3000 people who are still in Libya, 1123 have been on board of ships to evacuate to neighboring countries, over 1400 on the way to the Egypt-Libya border, another 1000 on the road from Tripoli to Tunisia-Libya border. Vietnam’s mission based in Tunisia is seeking to approach Tripoli to evacuate Vietnamese workers.

 

According to Ngan, there are around 200 Vietnamese still stuck in Libya. These people work for small enterprises owned by Libyans. They have contacted the Vietnamese Embassy. They were told to stay at a fixed address to be evacuated as soon as possible.

 

“We have not received any report of injuries for Vietnamese workers in Libya. The situation is less tense than several days ago. The government has exerted effort to save trapped workers,” Minister Ngan said.

 

She said the remaining workers will be brought home as soon as possible, by Vietnam Airlines aircrafts or commercial crafts hired of partners. Workers have been supplied with food and warm clothes.

 

The Minister said that Vietnam planned to hire military aircrafts to evacuate Vietnamese workers, but at the moment military aircrafts cannot land in Tripoli.

 

Returned workers have been granted VND2 million each from a government fund and labor exporting firms as traveling expenses.

 

The government will help over 10,000 workers from Libya to seek new jobs and to deal with their debts because many people borrowed money from banks to cover the fees for their trips to Libya.

 

Nguyen Quoc Nam, an official from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Hanoi, IOM’s office and two missions in Egypt and Tunisia have combined to assist around 3000 Vietnamese at the borders between Libya and Egypt, Tunisia.

 

At the Tunisia-Libya border, around 2000 Vietnamese are now in camps of IOM. They are supplied with food and healthcare, Nam said.

 

According to Nam, Vietnam doesn’t have representatives in Tunisia. Once Vietnam sends its mission to Tunisia to discuss with Tunisia, IOM will help bring Vietnamese workers from the border to Tunisia’s capital.

 

There are also thousands of Vietnamese at the Egypt-Libya border, Nam said. IOM has cooperated with the Vietnamese mission and the Vietnamese Embassy in Egypt to assist these people. The first 24 workers arrived at Tan Son Nhat Airport on March 2 evening from Cairo Airport.

 

PV