Europe News
Greek ferries return with 2,300 Libya evacuees
Feb 27, 2011, 8:25 GMT
Athens - In the ongoing evacuation of foreigners from unrest-ridden Libya, two more ferries arrived Sunday in Greece bringing some 2,300 people, Greek radio reported.
One ferry arrived at the port city of Piraeus, near Athens, with 390 people from 17 countries.
Another ferry arrived at the Crete island port of Heraklion with some 1,900 Chinese on board.
On Saturday, a ferry with 2,911 Chinese nationals and 13 European Union nationals had arrived in Heraklion.
Meanwhile two other ferries left the ports of Patras and Heraklion for Libya on Sunday to continue the evacuation of foreigner guest workers, chiefly Chinese, from the North African country.
Altogether, some 15,000 Chinese nationals are in the process of being evacuated by Greece under a request by Beijing.
The evacuees then spend two or three days in hotels in Greece - the bill paid for by Beijing - before special charter planes fly them back home to China.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has sent a message to his Greek counterpart Giorgos Papandreou thanking Athens for the help in evacuating the Chinese workers.
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