Ship from Malta to evacaute thousands of Filipinos from Libya

A ship that can carry up to 1,000 people is being readied to evacuate Filipinos from strife-torn Libya, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario has announced.

There are more or less 13,000 Filipinos in Libya, according to the DFA.

The Philippine government has been urging Filipinos to return from Libya due to the security situation there.

On Tuesday, a new batch of Filipino workers from Libya arrived home, with some of them claiming they were held up by men who they described as wearing police uniforms, and who took their mobile phones and other valuables.

The DFA said the repatriated nationals are to be briefed and assisted by DFA and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) representatives at the airport.

The Philippine Embassy in Libya has already started relocating its non-core staff to Tunisia. "Due to the increasing violence and lawlessness in Tripoli, all non-core staff of the Philippine Embassy there are being relocated to Tunisia. Staff dependents were repatriated last week," it said.

On 20 July, the Philippine government raised the alert level in Libya to "4," citing the "extremely unstable" situation there. "Under Alert Level 4, the Philippine government undertakes evacuation ofabout 13,000 Filipino nationals there as soon as possible while no Filipino national will be allowed to travel to Libya," the DFA said.