New Delhi - Asian nations on Wednesday prepared "mammoth" evacuation plans for more than 100,000 migrants trapped in Libya, many of them low-paid labourers toiling on construction sites.
Arrangements to use passenger ships, planes and land routes to Egypt were being considered as governments try to secure their citizens` safety despite poor communication links and growing violence.
The majority of expatriates are contract workers, with 60,000 Bangladeshis, 30,000 Filipinos, 23,000 Thais and 18,000 Indians among those living under the tottering regime of Moamer Kadhafi.
China is drawing up plans to rescue about 30,000 citizens, many of them engineers involved in the oil, rail and telecom sectors, while Hanoi is monitoring conditions for 10,000 Vietnamese.
"This is going to be quite a mammoth operation," India`s foreign secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters. "We will have to not only put in place arrangements for aircraft or ships, but also obtain permission from Libyan authorities for our aircraft to land there."
Of the 18,000 Indians in Libya, about 3,000 are reported to be in the violence-hit city of Benghazi working in automobile companies and hospitals.
Rao said an Indian passenger ship that could carry 1,000 people was in the Red Sea and was on standby.
China will send a plane, ships and fishing vessels to Libya to help evacuate its nationals, officials said.
An Air China jet was to leave Beijing for Athens as the government awaits permission to land in the north African country, where hundreds have been killed in an uprising against Kadhafi.
China`s State Council "decided to immediately deploy chartered civil aircraft, COSCO cargo ships in nearby waters, and Chinese fishing vessels carrying needed living and medical supplies", the foreign ministry said.
China will also look to hire "large-scale passenger cruise ships and buses", it added.
The official Xinhua news agency reported that 83 Chinese had crossed the border into Egypt late Tuesday.
Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay, whose country relies heavily on remittances from around nine million overseas workers, was to fly to the Middle East Friday to review emergency plans for Filipinos in the region.
Manila has said it will buy plane tickets for as many of its 30,000 citizens in Libya who wish to flee.
Binay is to visit Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as well as Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where he is expected to meet with diplomats and arrange possible passage for Filipinos, his chief aide said.
Many overseas Filipinos are working in the Middle East, including some 32,000 in Bahrain and Yemen, which have been hit by violent protests.
Migrante International, a support group for overseas Filipino workers, said Filipinos had been abandoned in workers` camps in Libya to fend for themselves.
Impoverished Bangladesh said it too was looking at evacuation plans.
"Evacuation is an option," foreign secretary Mijarul Quayes told reporters in Dhaka. "The Bangladesh government has put this option on the table. We will do everything we can, whatever it takes, to ensure the safety and security of our workers, but the situation is very, very volatile."
"If possible, we will repatriate all of our workers to Bangladesh."
There are more than 23,000 Thai contract workers, mostly construction labourers, in locations across Libya.
The Thai embassy in Tripoli has contacted employers and advised Thais to be ready for evacuation, possibly using other countries` ships to ferry them to Malta, the labour ministry in Bangkok said.
"We plan to use ships to evacuate Thai workers from Libya, but as of now nothing could be done as the situation is extremely dangerous," said ministry spokesman Sutham Nateetong.
Sri Lanka said it had contacted the International Organisation on Migration (IOM) seeking help for at least 1,200 citizens.
"We don`t have aircraft to bring them back, so we asked the IOM," Sri Lanka`s deputy external affairs minister Neomal Perera said. "We are also talking with ambassadors from friendly countries to get their assistance."
Nepalese officials were looking at overland routes to Egypt for about 3,000 citizens, while South Korea urged its 1,400 nationals to return home after violent attacks and looting at South Korean-run construction sites.
Indonesia said some expatriates were sheltering at its embassy in Tripoli, and evacuation plans were being drawn up for about 875 citizens. Malaysia is making similar arrangements for 190 people.
source : bbc.co.uk
