Malta ready for urgent evacuations from Libya

Malta is set and ready to go if urgent evacuations from Libya are ordered, principal permanent secretary and head of government contingency centre Mario Cutajar said.

Evacuees from Libya may come both by air and sea and the government has set up reception centres and allocated berthing areas for any ships that may come in.

The government is in fact awaiting the arrival of Chinese nationals in Libya at any time in the coming hours or days. The situation is however very fluid.

Cutajar once again urged Maltese still in Libya to return home on the commercial flights available. “The trickiest is getting people out of Benghazi, where the situation is the worse. We are getting people out, but it is not easy,” he said.

Some 100 Maltese nationals remain in  Tripoli, while around 30 are in Benghazi.

Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella is in constant contact with Italy, France and the UK in the eventuality that help is requested.

Government is also keeping track of what’s going on in the Libyan roads and around the coasts.

Seven patients from Libya are currently receiving treatment at Mater Dei Hospital. A further two patients are expected to arrive on Wednesday evening flown on air ambulance. The patients are sent by medical doctors in Libya, who first advise the Maltese government of their arrival. The air ambulance is privately chartered.

The156 passengers who landed in Malta last night via a commercial flight included a Maltese man, injured in an explosion near his home. The man was transferred to Mater Dei Hospital but has now been discharged.

Another 59 passengers arrived in Malta on Wednesday. A flight from Mitiga airport may include Maltese nationals.