Brazil evacuating citizens via Syria, Turkey

Jul 24, 2006, 22:04 GMT

Brasilia - The Brazilian government intends to have evacuated 1,500 Brazilians from war-ravaged Lebanon by Friday, where at least seven of its citizens, including three children, have died in Israeli rocket attacks.

Brazilian Foreign Ministry officials said Monday that ten buses had been sent to Lebanon to pick up citizens of the South American country, and that six of them were successful Monday in reaching Syrian territory with about 200 people.

A Brazilian Air Force (FAB) plane brought 150 people back to Brazil on Monday from Adana, Turkey, where they had flown from Lebanon. The same aircraft brought back 98 evacuees last week.

'In total, about 700 of the 1,500 Brazilians that we plan to take put of Lebanon have already been taken to safety, in an absolutely secure way since Brazilian diplomacy has negotiated with Israel so that those people do not risk being victims of military attacks in the process,' said Ambassador Everton Vargas, in charge of coordinating the support group for Brazilians living in Lebanon.

A Canadian ship left Beirut harbour Sunday for Turkey with 75 Brazilians aboard, and a plane belonging to private Brazilian airline TAM is expected to land in Damascus Wednesday to pick up another 200 citizens and take them back to Brazil.

Two FAB planes are scheduled to carry out four more flights by Friday from Turkey and Syria to Brazil, with a total of 440 Brazilians.

Brazilian authorities say some 8,000 citizens currently live in Lebanon, although other sources put the figure as high as 70,000.