VietNamNet Bridge - A Greek ship with 1,015 Vietnamese workers on board anchored at Cai Lan port in Quang Ninh northern province at 4 am, April 4.

 
They were the last group returning from Libya in the campaign to rescue 10,300 Vietnamese workers from Libya.

 

The ship, named Lissos, hired by a Brazilian contractor, left Benghazi port on March 3. It was scheduled to arrive in Vietnam two weeks later but the schedule was changed because the ship departed urgently, without adequate foods and water, etc.

 

Instead of anchoring at Tan Cang Port in the northern port city of Hai Phong, it moved to Cai Lan Port in Quang Ninh because the water level in Tan Cang is lower than required by safety regulations.

 

Two labor export companies, Vinaconexmec and VTC corp, had 30 cars waiting there to bring them to their hometowns.

 

The ship landed at Cai Lan port at 4 am but workers didn’t leave the vessel until 7 am.

 

Most of these laborers are from the central provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh, and the remaining from northern provinces.

 

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs asked labor export businesses to settle contracts with them within two weeks since they came back to Vietnam.

 

On February 24, Vietnam set up a steering board to deal with issues related to Vietnamese laborers in the Middle East and North Africa. The government also sent five working delegations to Libya’s neighboring countries and called for assistance from the international community to help Vietnamese workers return home.

 

This is Vietnam’s second campaign to rescue overseas workers. In 1991, Vietnam evacuated 18,000 workers in Iraq.

 

PV