Two cargo planes with the Turkish Air Forces arrived early on Saturday in Turkey, bringing back 132 Turkish nationals from Libya as the civil unrest has escalated in this Northern African country.
The cargo plane landed at the Dalaman Airport as four others were enroute to Turkey with more passengers and three to four thousand more Turks were waiting for evacuation at an airport in Tripoli.
Turkish Foreign Ministry has said an air bridge had been established to evacuate Turkish nationals from Libya with 12 military and civilian planes, adding that nearly 1,350 Turks have been airlifted since Thursday.
Nearly ten thousand Turks have been evacuated by sea, air and land transportation in Turkey’s efforts to save its nationals from civil strife in Libya.
The Foreign Ministry said that two Turkish frigates set sail from Benghazi port Saturday carrying 221 Turks and 517 foreign nationals from 25 countries.
The ministry also said Turkey was set to send on Saturday two tons of food to Turks awaiting evacuation at the Tripoli airport.
Turkish private company brings 150 more workers back to Turkey from Libya
A Turkish private company brought on Friday back 150 more workers to Turkey from Libya due to the ongoing turmoil in that country.
A plane carrying workers of a private Turkish company from Sirt (Surt) landed at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport around 10 p.m.
Earlier on Friday, the same private company evacuated 188 workers from Libya.
Thus, the number of Turkish workers brought from Sirt reached 338.
One of the workers who was in the first group of workers brought back to Turkey, Ali Ozboduroglu said it was calmer in Sirt, where Muammar al-Qadhafi was born and grew up.
"We watched TV and saw that our friends in other cities had difficult times. However, we were at ease," Ozboduroglu said.
Another worker, Saim Erdagli said they did not face any basic need problem.
According to unconfirmed reports, around 1,000 people have been killed in Libya since protests against Muammar al-Gadhafi’s 42-year reign began last week.